An army helicopter today crashed near Viswema village, about 22 kilometers from Kohima, killing all the three occupants, including a colonel of the Rangapahar GOC 3 Corp. Defence Sources told AIR, Kohima that the accident occurred at around 8:30 this morning at Terhazu Peak in Viswema village. Sources said that the Cheetah helicopter, which was on a routine sortie to Imphal in Manipur took off from Rangapahar camp in Dimapur at 7:50 AM but lost contact at about 8:25 AM. The bodies of Colonel P.K. Pal, from EME, Major Nikhil Prakash and Major Rakesh Sharma from army aviation unit were recovered earlier this evening in a massive joint operation of the army, state police and fire brigade and local villagers from surrounding villages.