Uttarakhand helicopter crash kills all six on board near Joshimath, bodies recovered
DEHRADUN, OCT 30 : All six people aboard a helicopter that crashed near Joshimath in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Friday were killed, with their bodies recovered, Chamoli Superintendent of Police Surjit Singh Panwar said.
The helicopter, operated by Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt. Ltd., was flying from Badrinath to Dehradun with five passengers and a pilot when it crashed near Joshimath.
The passengers have been identified as Prathapa, Arun, Shankar Gowda, Sudheer K. and H.S. Natraja. The pilot was Capt. Himanshu.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had earlier confirmed the crash near Chhai village, close to Joshimath, and said a joint rescue operation involving the district administration, Disaster Management Department and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) was underway.
“District administration, the Disaster Management Department and the SDRF are jointly conducting the rescue operation. I am continuously monitoring the situation,” Dhami said in a post on X. He added that officials had been instructed to airlift anyone seriously injured to a higher medical centre for treatment.
The helicopter, operated under call sign VT-HCX, had taken off from Badrinath and was bound for Sahastradhara in Dehradun. The Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) said it lost communication with the aircraft while it was flying over the Joshimath valley, after which its tracking system also stopped registering the helicopter.
There were differing accounts of the take-off time, with UCADA reporting that the helicopter took off at around 1.14 pm, while another account put the departure time at about 2.15 pm.
The Army had alerted the Chamoli district magistrate to a possible crash near Hathi Parvat, following which teams from the Army, district administration and SDRF were mobilised.
The mountainous terrain around Joshimath and snowfall in the area complicated the search and rescue operation.
UCADA said the entire fleet of Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt. Ltd. had been grounded as a precautionary measure.
he helicopter had reportedly carried devotees to Badrinath before beginning its return journey.
-PTI
