A helicopter carrying five pilgrims from Badrinath to Dehradun crashed near Chayee village close to Joshimath on Friday amid adverse weather conditions, Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said.
Dheeraj Karki, district information officer, Chamoli, said the helicopter was returning from Badrinath Dham with five pilgrims when contact with it was lost. The incident was reported amid deteriorating weather conditions in the region.
The chief minister said he was closely monitoring the situation and a joint rescue operation was being conducted by the district administration, disaster management department and the SDRF.
The aircraft lost communication while flying over the Joshimath valley, following which its tracking system also stopped showing its location. Its contact was lost near the hill close to Chayee village in the Marwari area of Joshimath,” Joshi said. Soon after information about the incident was received, teams from the district administration and other agencies were mobilised for the search and rescue operation. Officials were also coordinating efforts to reach the crash site in the mountainous terrain.
The helicopter, operated by Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt Ltd and bearing call sign VT-HCX, took off from Badrinath at around 1.14 pm for Sahastradhara in Dehradun, according to the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA). Officials said initial information indicated that the helicopter, operated by Trans Bharat Aviation had taken off from Badrinath Dham for Dehradun at around 1.12 pm.
District disaster management officer of Chamoli, Nand Kishore Joshi said the helicopter, which was returning to Dehradun after taking pilgrims for darshan at Badrinath Dham, met with an accident near Chayee village. He said a State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team from Joshimath had been dispatched to the crash site to carry out search and rescue operations. “An SDRF team from Joshimath has left for the crash site for search and rescue operation,” Joshi said. There were six people on board the helicopter, including the pilot and five passengers, according to officials.
“A helicopter returning to Dehradun with pilgrims after darshan at Badrinath Dham has crashed near Chayee village in the Jyotirmath (previously Joshimath area) of Chamoli district.
