Helicopter accidents also seem to be on the rise in Uttarakhand particularly during the Yatra season.
The chopper traffic has tremendously increased in Uttarakhand with private heli services in order to mint excessive profits are busy in their to and fro commercial flights in abundance, openly violating the civil aviation as well as the environmental norms thus unfortunately resulting in several chopper accidents resulting in brutal deaths of the tourists / pilgrims etc.
Just today at Bandasu in Uttarakhand a helicopter of a private company accidentally fell on the road with a bang with the details of any injuries or casualties if any, expected shortly.
There are reports of a pilot being injured though not severely and has been taken to the nearby hospital for treatment.
Two days ago on 8 th May there was a tragedy of six deaths and a man critically injured when a chopper crashed near Gangnani in Uttarkashi district on 8 th June morning, in which six people, including its pilot were dead and one critically injured. The tragedy happened on the Gangotri National Highway before nine morning , shortly after the helicopter, belonging to AeroTrans Services Private Limited (registration VT-OXF), took off from the Sahastradhara helipad in Dehradun and was headed to the Kharsali helipad, about six kilometres from Gangotri Dham. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has expressed shock over the incident.
According to various news reports as soon as the tragic information regarding the accident was acknowledged the police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), fire, medical, and other disaster relief teams rushed to the site and launched rescue operations.
The chopper had plunged into a gorge, approximately 200 to 250 metres deep. The rescue teams established a base at the scene and began descending into the gorge to carry out rescue work.
There were seven people on board the chopper – six passengers and the pilot, Captain Robin Singh, 60, from Gujarat.
The deceased have been identified as Kala Chandrakant Soni, 61, Vijaya Reddy, 57, and Ruchi Agarwal, 56, all from Mumbai; Radha Agarwal, 79, from Uttar Pradesh; and Vedvati Kumari, 48, from Andhra Pradesh. The injured passenger, Mastu Bhaskar, 51, from Andhra Pradesh, has been airlifted to AIIMS, Rishikesh, in critical condition.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed deep grief over the accident. He posted on his social media accounts that extremely distressing news has been received about the loss of some lives in a helicopter crash near Gangnani in Uttarkashi. He added that he prays that the departed souls get eternal peace and that the bereaved families get strength to bear this immense sorrow. He further instructed the administration to provide all possible assistance to the injured and conduct a thorough investigation into the incident, adding that he is in constant touch with officials and monitoring the situation closely.
The officials confirmed that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will probe the crash. The AAIB, under the Civil Aviation Ministry, is responsible for classifying safety occurrences involving aircraft operating in Indian airspace into accidents and serious incidents.
It may also be recalled that just days before this tragedy, on 5 May, another helicopter carrying pilgrims from Badrinath to Dehradun had to make an emergency landing at the Gopeshwar playground due to bad weather in the Badrinath Dham area. After waiting for about five minutes on the playground, the helicopter resumed its journey to Dehradun once the weather improved.
The crash occurred on a day when the Meteorological Department had issued a weather warning for Uttarakhand, forecasting light to moderate rain, lightning, and strong winds in districts including Dehradun, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Tehri, Pauri, Nainital, and Champawat. The authorities are investigating whether adverse weather played a role in the accident or there is some other technical reason behind the crash.
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