All six people, including the pilot, on board a Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt Ltd helicopter were killed as the chopper crashed near Jyotirmath in Chamoli district on Friday afternoon. The helicopter took off from Badrinath at 1.12 pm and lost contact while flying over the Jyotirmath valley two minutes later.
The district disaster management officer, NK Joshi, said that the helicopter bearing call sign VT-HCX lost communication while flying over Jyotirmath valley and its tracking system stopped showing its location.
Surjit Singh Panwar, Superintendent of Police, Chamoli, said that the deceased were identified as Captain Himanshu Sabharwal (48) from Delhi, Pratapa (41) Arun Salunke (44), V B Shankar Gowda (39) Karnataka, Sudhir K (50) and H S Nataraja (51). All the passengers were from Karnataka. He said that the bodies were being retrieved from the wreckage by rescue teams.
As the information of the crash was received, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami directed the secretary Disaster Management and Rehabilitation, Vinod Kumar Suman, to immediately start the relief and rescue operation. The administration pressed joint teams comprising police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Army personnel from Pandukeshwar and Jyotirmath to the accident site for search and rescue operation. Additionally, drone teams were also dispatched from the district headquarters, Gopeshwar. Meanwhile, CM Dhami has directed the officials to conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of the accident.
Expressing deep sorrow over the loss of life in the helicopter crash, Dhami directed the district administration to provide all possible assistance to the affected families and ensure necessary relief and other arrangements promptly.