Badrinath-bound chopper with 6 aboard crashes in Uttarakhand, rescue ops on

A helicopter heading to Badrinath has reportedly gone missing in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district amid heavy rain and dense cloud cover. Two other helicopters have been deployed to trace the missing aircraft as a search operation continues.

In Short

• Six people on board including pilot; rescue ops underway by police, SDRF, Army and ITBP
• CM Pushkar Singh Dhami monitoring situation, directed airlifting of seriously injured
• Crash happened near above Marwari Bridge around 2 pm amid poor weather

A helicopter operated by Trans Bharat Aviation crashed near Joshimath in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Friday afternoon while flying from Badrinath to Dehradun.

Six people, including the pilot and five passengers, were on board the helicopter, identified by its call sign VT-HCX. The aircraft had taken off from Badrinath at around 1:14 pm and was headed to Sahastradhara in Dehradun.

The helicopter lost communication while flying over Joshimath valley, and its tracking system also stopped transmitting. Its crash was subsequently reported in the region, following which search and rescue operations were launched.

The pilot has been identified as Captain Himanshu. The five passengers were identified as Prathapa, Arun, Shankar Gowda, Sudheer K and HS Natraja.

Teams from the Indian Army, Chamoli district administration and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been mobilised and dispatched to begin search and rescue operations. Further details about the incident and the condition of those on board are awaited.

As a precautionary measure, the entire fleet of Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt. Ltd. has been grounded.

SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS UNDERWAY

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami earlier confirmed a helicopter crash near Chayi village in the Joshimath area and said the district administration, Disaster Management Department and SDRF were carrying out rescue operations.

Dhami said he was monitoring the situation and had directed officials to immediately airlift seriously injured passengers to higher medical centres for treatment.

"I have received the unfortunate news of a helicopter crash near Chayi village, Joshimath. The district administration, Disaster Management Department and SDRF are jointly carrying out a rescue operation," he said in a post on X.

The Chief Minister also expressed hope for the safety of the passengers.

Earlier, Joshimath Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) had said that authorities were gathering information about the incident and that teams were heading towards the suspected crash site.

According to Sub-Inspector Manohar Kanyal, officials from the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) said the location of the Trans Bharat Aviation helicopter was near the Army Camp above Chai village.

There were six people on board, including five passengers and one pilot.

However, officials said complete details about the incident and whether the helicopter had crashed or made a crash landing were not yet available.

EARLIER EMERGENCY LANDINGS IN OCTOBER

The incident comes after two emergency landings involving Char Dham helicopters were reported in Uttarakhand earlier in October.

One helicopter made an emergency landing in Rudraprayag due to poor weather conditions, while another was forced to land in Tehri following a technical issue.

- Ends