THE bodies of the two pilots killed in an Army helicopter crash in Arunachal Pradesh were flown to their home States on Friday, a defence spokesperson said here. The mortal remains of Lt Col. VVB Reddy have been sent to Hyderabad and that of Major Jayanth A to Madurai, Defence spokesperson Lt Colonel Mahendra Rawat said.

The bodies were flown by a special military plane after a wreath-laying ceremony at Tezpur. The duo was killed when a Cheetah helicopter of the Army, on an operational sortie from Missamari in Assam to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, crashed near Mandala in West Kameng district on Thursday morning. A court of inquiry has been ordered by the Army to ascertain the cause of the accident. Lt Colonel Reddy’s body is expected to reach Hyderabad at 6 pm. It will be taken to his native place at Yadadri in Telengana by road. The aircraft with the co-pilot’s body is scheduled to reach Madurai at 8 pm, the spokesperson added.