Six people, including a pilot, were killed when a helicopter operated by Trans Bharat Aviation crashed in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand on Friday. The helicopter was travelling from Badrinath Dham to Sahastradhara Heliport in Dehradun when it crashed in the Jyotirmath area amid adverse weather conditions.
According to initial information, the helicopter came down in a forested area between Chai village and Lambagad, above Hathi Pahad. The crash site is located in difficult terrain, complicating the recovery of the victims.
Army personnel, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) reached the area after receiving information about the accident. A rescue and recovery operation was launched, with teams working to bring the bodies from the remote forest area to the road.
Six people aboard helicopter killed
The helicopter was carrying six people, including the pilot. All six died in the crash.
The deceased have been identified as Captain Himanshu Sabharwal, 48, a resident of Delhi, and five passengers from Karnataka: Pratapa, 41; Arun Salunke, 44; V.B. Shankar Gowda, 39; Sudhir K., 50; and H.S. Nataraja, 51.
Passengers had visited Mana village
According to the information available, the passengers had visited Mana village, which is widely known as India’s first village, before boarding the helicopter for their return journey to Sahastradhara.
The helicopter crashed in the Jyotirmath area during the journey. The exact cause of the accident has not yet been established. Authorities are expected to investigate the circumstances surrounding the crash, including the role of weather conditions.
Previous incidents involving the operator
Trans Bharat Aviation has been involved in other helicopter incidents in Uttarakhand. Earlier, helicopters operated by the company had made crash landings near Kedarnath temple and on a road close to the Sersi helipad.
More recently, a helicopter belonging to the same company had to make an emergency landing near Chamba in Tehri district.
The latest crash has resulted in the deaths of all six people on board. Rescue teams continued recovery efforts at the site, while the cause of the accident remained under investigation.
