Mamata Banerjee sustains injuries after chopper makes emergency landing: Doctor

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee was taken to the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata later in the evening and was advised by doctors to get admitted to the hospital for treatment

KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee sustained injuries including a ligament injury after her chopper made an emergency landing at an army base due to rough weather in north Bengal on Tuesday.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee exiting the state-run SSKM hospital in Kolkata on Tuesday (HT Photo/Samir Jana)

The chief minister was taken to the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata later in the evening and was advised by doctors to get admitted to the hospital for treatment. Banerjee told the attending doctors that she will continue treatment at home.

The incident took place when Banerjee was returning from Jalpaiguri district where the Trinamool Congress chief addressed a political rally ahead of the upcoming panchayat polls in the state. She was on her way to Bagdogra from where she was to take a flight to Kolkata.

“Mamata Banerjee’s helicopter made an emergency landing. She was injured. It was due to rough weather,” TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said in a post on Twitter.

A government official said that when the chopper was somewhere over the Baikunthapur forest, it met with a thunderstorm. The pilot changed course and safely landed the helicopter at the defence airstrip.

A senior doctor at SSKM hospital said: “The chief minister has suffered some injuries due to the emergency landing. She is being examined. Senior doctors are attending to her. MRI scan revealed ligament injury with fluid collection in her left knee-joint with marks of ligament injury in the left hip joint. Treatment has already begun. She was advised to get admitted but she said that she would continue the treatment at home”.

At the Jalpaiguri event, Mamata Banerjee launched a sharp attack on the BJP-led central government. “The BJP’s life expectancy is just six months more. They will stay at the Centre for another six months. The Lok Sabha polls will be held around February–March next year. If I know India and its people well, the BJP will be wiped out,” Banerjee said at the political rally.

The BJP hit back, saying that the chief minister levelled allegations against the central forces but had to take the army’s help for the emergency landing.

“She levelled all sorts of allegations against the central forces. But today she had to make an emergency landing at an army base. It is unfortunate. It is because of the BSF guarding our borders that the chief minister and her ministers and MLAs are being able to sleep at night,” said BJP’s state president Sukanta Majumdar.