Kedarnath helicopter crash: 7 dead after chopper crash near shrine, 5th such incident in 2 months
The Aryan Aviation chopper took off from the Kedarnath helipad around 5 am and went “missing” after authorities lost signal with it.
Seven people were killed after a chopper carrying six people from Kedarnath to Guptkashi crashed near Gaurikund on Sunday early morning in Rudraprayag district, people aware of the matter said.
The chopper which belonged to Aryan Aviation Aviation which took off from Kedarnath helipad at around 5.20 am but later went "missing" after authorities lost signal with it.
Inspector Anirudh Bhandari of state disaster response force (SDRF) said, “All seven people on board in chopper are dead.”
The victims were identified as Captain Rajveer Singh Chauhan (pilot); Rajkumar Suresh Jaiswal (41), Shradha Rajkumar Jaiswal (35), Kashi (23 months), residents of Maharashtra, Vikram (46), a resident of Rudraprayag; Vinod Dev (66), and Tusti Singh (29), residents of Bijnor in UP.
Also read: Infant among 7 killed in tragic Kedarnath chopper crash
District tourism officer Rahul Chaubey, who is also the nodal officer for chopper service in Rudraprayag, said, "We recieved information about missing helicopter earlier this morning. A search operation was launched to trace the helicopter. The belonging to Aryan Aviation was returning from Kedarnath Dham to its base in Guptkashi when it encountered sudden adverse weather conditions in the valley. The pilot attempted to navigate the helicopter out of the valley; however, the aircraft crashed during the effort."
"There were seven people on board, including pilot, five passengers and an infant," he said.
"After locals saw smoke billowing out near Gaurikund, we came to know that it is the chopper we lost signal with has crashed."
Also read: What may have caused the tragic Kedarnath chopper crash? Officials reveal
It is the fifth chopper incident on the Char Dham route in less than 40 days.
It came days after on June 7 a helicopter carrying five pilgrims made a crash landing on the Guptkashi-Gaurikund highway near Barasu in Rudraprayag district.
The incident occurred around 1 pm. There were no casualties. Only the pilot sustained minor injuries.
Uttarakhand CM on Kedarnath helicopter crash
Uttarkhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, reacting to the accident, said, “Very sad news has been received about a helicopter crash in Rudraprayag district. SDRF, local administration and other rescue teams are engaged in relief and rescue operations. I pray to Baba Kedar for the safety of all the travellers.”
The incident comes just days after 270 people were killed as an Air India plane crashed into an Ahmedabad medical hostel moments after takeoff.
All but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 787-8(AI171) and another 29 persons, including five MBBS students, on the ground were killed when the aircraft came down on Thursday moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport before falling inside the nearby campus of the state-run BJ Medical College in Meghaninagar area and going up in flames.
