Six pilgrims and a pilot were killed when their helicopter crashed near Kedarnath on Tuesday morning.
The chopper - Bell 407 (VT-RPN) - operated by Aryan Aviation burst into flames at around 11.45 AM at Dev Darshini in Garud Chatti, Rudraprayag District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh said.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA), C Ravishankar told media persons that the helicopter crashed when it was on its way back from Kedarnath to Guptkashi when it crashed at Garud Chatti. When the members of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) reached the accident site, they only found body parts of the passengers along with the wreckage of the helicopter. The diseased have been identified as Anil Singh (57) from Mumbai, who was the pilot of the helicopter; Purva Ramanuj (26), Kriti Barad (30) and Urvi Barad (25) of Gujarat; and Sujata (56), Kala (60) and Prem Kumar (63) of Tamil Nadu.
Teams of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and aviation regulator DGCA will be probing the helicopter crash.