NEW DELHI: A helicopter carrying six people, including the pilot, reported missing on the Joshimath-Badrinath route in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand has crashed, Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami said on Friday.
The helicopter, which reportedly took off from Badrinath around 1:14 pm amid snowfall, lost contact near the Hathi Parvat area.
“Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt Ltd’s helicopter bearing call sign VT-HCX, operating from Badrinath to Sahastradhara, Dehradun, which took off at approximately 13:14 hours has been reportedly missing. The helicopter lost communication when it was flying over Joshimath valley.
At the same time, the tracking system could no longer track the helicopter, and its current location has not been ascertained yet,” Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority said in a statement.
As a precautionary measure, the entire fleet of M/s Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt Ltd has been grounded, the statement added.
State rescue teams and the Army have been deployed for the search and rescue operation.
All six passengers are male: Prathapa, Arun, Shankar Gowda, Sudheer K, HS Natraja and pilot Capt Himanshu.
“We have received the unfortunate news of a helicopter crash near Chayee village, close to Joshimath. A joint rescue operation is being conducted by the district administration, disaster management department, and SDRF,” Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami posted on X.
“I myself am continuously monitoring the entire incident. Instructions have been given to immediately airlift the seriously injured to higher centers for better treatment. I pray to God for the safe return of the passengers,” the Chief Minister added.
A state official too said that “there has been a crash”.
“Yes, it is possible that there has been a crash. The Army, our SDRF team, police team and our health department team are reaching the site. I am also on my way to the sit,” said Chandra Shekhar Vashishth, Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Joshimath.
Over the past decade, Uttarakhand has recorded at least 12 distinct helicopter incidents – comprising five major fatal crashes and seven non-fatal incidents (which include forced emergency landings resulting in injuries, technical forced landings, or ground safety fatalities).
In June last year, seven people were killed as the chopper flying them from the Kedarnath temple to Guptkashi in Uttarakhand crashed in a forest.
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