Five passengers and pilot dead; all bodies recovered from crash site
Six people, including a pilot and five passengers, were killed after a helicopter crashed near Chai village, close to Joshimath in Uttarakhand, on Friday.
The helicopter, operated by Trans Bharat Aviation, was travelling from Badrinath to Sahastradhara when it crashed in a valley near Joshimath.
The deceased pilot has been identified as Captain Himanshu Sabharwal, a resident of Delhi. The five passengers — Prathapa, Arun, Shankar Gowda, Sudheer K. and H.S. Natraja — were all from Karnataka.
According to Chamoli Superintendent of Police Surjeet Singh Panwar, the helicopter took off from Badrinath Civil Helipad at around 1:12 PM. Contact with the aircraft was lost just two minutes later, at approximately 1:14 PM, near Joshimath.
Following the incident, joint rescue teams from the Uttarakhand Police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Indian Army and district administration launched search and rescue operations.
Officials confirmed that the bodies of all six victims have been recovered. Efforts are underway to transport them from the difficult-to-access crash site to a road-connected location.
Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCDA) has ordered the grounding of the entire fleet of Trans Bharat Aviation as a precautionary measure.
Reacting to the incident, senior Congress leader and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat called for a comprehensive inquiry into the series of helicopter accidents reported in the state in recent years. He stressed the need to strengthen safety measures in helicopter operations.
The latest crash has once again raised concerns over aviation safety in Uttarakhand’s mountainous regions.
