Joshimath helicopter crash: All six on board die, pilot and five passengers identified
Screengrab from a video circulating on X
New Delhi: All six people, including the pilot and five passengers, aboard a helicopter that crashed near Chai village in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, on Friday have died. The helicopter was flying from Badrinath Dham in Chamoli district to Dehradun. The aircraft belonged to Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt Ltd and was registered as VT-HCX.
The Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) chief executive officer, Prateek Jain, confirmed the deaths of all six occupants to reporters. A drone was also deployed from Gopeshwar to assist in the search and rescue operation.
Earlier, the copper went missing carrying six people, including a pilot and five passengers, crashed near Chai village in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, on Friday while flying from Badrinath to Dehradun. The aircraft belonged to Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt Ltd and was registered as VT-HCX.
According to the Uttarakhand civil aviation development authority (UCADA), the helicopter took off from Badrinath at approximately 1.14pm for Sahastradhara in Dehradun. It lost communication while flying over the Joshimath valley, after which its tracking system also stopped recording its location.
The six people on board were pilot captain Himanshu and passengers Prathapa, Arun, Shankar Gowda, Sudheer K and HS Natraja.
Following the incident, the Indian Army, Chamoli district administration and the Uttarakhand State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were mobilized to conduct search and rescue operations. UCADA also grounded the entire fleet of Trans Bharat Aviation as a precautionary measure.
The Uttarakhand chief minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, confirmed the crash in a post on X. He said the administration and disaster management teams were jointly conducting the rescue operation. He also directed officials to airlift seriously injured people to higher medical centres for treatment.
The condition of the six people on board and the cause of the crash have not yet been officially confirmed.
