One dead, another seriously injured in glider crash in Dumka

The glider engineer died of multiple injuries while pilot was referred to Durgapur, West Bengal for advanced treatment

One person died while another was seriously injured after their glider crashed at Glider Flying Academy (GFA) in Dumka, about 280 km northeast of here Monday evening, police said. The injured was referred to Durgapur for treatment.

The glider crashed during take off Monday evening. (Representative image/HT Photo)

Jharkhand civil aviation director Captain SP Sinha said glider engineer Dharmendra Kumar died in the accident while Captain JP Singh was injured in the accident.

The glider reportedly crashed during take-off around 5 pm. Both were seriously injured and were brought to Dumka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).

Dumka civil surgeon Dr Anant Kumar Jha said, “Dharemendra died during treatment around 6.30 pm. He had received severe head injury and multiple injuries in the body.”

Jha said Singh also received head injury. “His attendants wanted to take the patient to Durgapur. We forwarded him after giving treatment,” Jha said.

Civil aviation director Sinha said exact cause of the accident was yet to be known. S “We are gathering the details of the accident. More details could be divulged after investigation gets completed,” he said.

Jharkhand government, in December 2017, had opened GFA for glider pilot training to budding pilots of the state. The total number of seats in the institute is 30.

The trainees were being given glider pilot training at government subsidized fee of ₹50,000 for one year. Sources in the civil aviation department said the government offered 50% concession in fee for the students of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe, while the training would be provided free to the students of Pahariya tribe.