Rescue teams resume search for 6 bodies after chopper crash near Joshimath

Retrieval efforts were suspended late Friday due to hazardous terrain and failing light. They resumed at 5am this morning.

Multi-agency search and rescue teams resumed operations on Saturday to retrieve and transport the bodies of six people killed in a helicopter crash near Chayee village, close to a hill in the Marwari area of Jyotirmath (Joshimath) in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district.

Wreckage of a private helicopter operated by Trans Bharat Aviation lying on a hillside near Chai village in the Joshimath area of Chamoli district, Uttarakhand. (PTI)

Retrieval efforts were suspended late Friday due to hazardous terrain and failing light. Furthermore, an Army unit that first reached the site warned district authorities of Himalayan bear activity in the surrounding forest.

According to Jyotirmath Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Shekhar Vashisht, the Army, ITBP, NDRF, SDRF, and local police, resumed operations at 5 am on Saturday to bring the bodies down to the nearest road head.

The helicopter - operated by Trans Bharat Aviation bearing registration call sign VT-HCX - was returning to the Sahastradhara helipad in Dehradun from Badrinath when it crashed on Friday afternoon. Inclement weather, marked by rain and severely reduced visibility along the flight route, is believed to have caused the accident. However, the exact cause of the accident is yet to be established.

The flight had taken off from Badrinath at around 1.12 pm, lost radio communication shortly after while flying over the Jyotirmath valley, and disappeared from tracking systems.

“We dispatched additional teams today, while several personnel stayed near the crash site overnight. Given the tough terrain, the retrieval process will take time,” the Jyotirmath SDM said.

Vashisht added that ground teams would determine the safest route down. “The bodies will be moved to either Pandukeshwar or Chayee village, depending on which path is safer through the tough terrain. From there, they will be transported to Jyotirmath, around 12 km away. Their post-mortem examinations will be conducted thereafter.”

The deceased were identified as the pilot, Capt. Himanshu Sabharwal (48), a resident of Delhi, and five passengers from Karnataka: Pratapa (41), Arun Salunke (44), VB Shankar Gowda (39), Sudhir K (50), and HS Nataraja (51).

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami directed senior officials on Friday evening to conduct a thorough inquiry into the accident to ascertain its exact cause and examine all technical and weather-related factors.