An Indian Army Aviation Cheetah helicopter flying an operational sortie near Bomdila in Arunachal Pradesh crashed near the Mandala hills area of the state on Thursday, officals said.

Defence Guwahati Public Relations Officer Lt col Mahendra Rawat said that the aircraft was reported to have lost contact with the Air Traffic Controller at around 09:15 AM today after it took off from Senge, located near Banglejaap grazing ground after being informed to adminstration and police by Brokpa Dorjee & Burba.

The bodies of the both the flying officers was retrieved by the team led by ADC Dirang J T OBi, CO Dirang and Incharge CO Thembang Dr. Darge and OC PS Dirang along with teams from Army, BRO, SSB & ITBP.

Further details are awaited.