CHAMOLI, October 31 : All six people aboard a private helicopter that crashed into a hillside in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district have lost their lives, police confirmed on Friday. The bodies of all the occupants have been located but are yet to be retrieved from the crash site.
The helicopter, operated by Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt. Ltd., was flying from Badrinath to Dehradun when it met with the accident. The crash occurred around 2:20 PM near the JP Power House, close to Marwari Bridge in the Joshimath area.
According to officials, the aircraft had taken off from Badrinath nearly an hour before the incident. It reportedly lost contact amid adverse weather conditions before crashing into the hillside near Chai village.
The deceased have been identified as pilot Captain Himanshu and five passengers — Prathapa, Arun, Shankar Gowda, Sudheer K and H S Natraja. All six were reportedly residents of Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Confirming the fatalities, Chamoli Superintendent of Police Surjit Singh Panwar said that all six bodies had been found, though the recovery operation was still underway.
Following the crash, teams from the Chamoli district administration, police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were rushed to the spot to carry out rescue and recovery operations.
Further details about the cause of the accident are awaited.
