NEW DELHI A missing Indian military helicopter with 12 people on board was sighted Monday, a day after it crashed while flying along the country's border with Pakistan, AFP said.
Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said five bodies were spotted at the crash site, but added that there was no information whether anyone had survived.
Four Indian military helicopters have reached the crash site, some 90 kilometers (56 miles) south from the Gujarat frontier district of Nalia, Fernandes told reporters in New Delhi.
The defense minister replying to queries that whether the chopper had been shot down by Pakistani gunners said: "At the moment there is no evidence to suspect anything." The air force said the wreckage of the Russian-made helicopter was strewn "well within Indian territory." The chopper, which went missing on Sunday afternoon, was carrying eight officials of the border security force and four air force crew members.
India shot down a French-built Pakistani spy plane in August 1999 near Nalia after repeated warnings to the pilot that he was violating Indian airspace.
Pakistan lodged a compensation claim on September 21, arguing its Atlantique naval plane was on a routine training mission when it was shot down on August 10 in Pakistani airspace, killing all 16 personnel on board.