Seven people died after a helicopter carrying pilgrims of the Char Dham yatra from Kedarnath crashed near Rudraprayag’s Gaurikund early Sunday, officials said.
The deceased include the pilot and a child. Explaining about the incident, Nilesh Bharne, IG Law and Order, said, “Around 5.20 am on Sunday, the helicopter went missing after taking passengers from Kedarnath, en route to Guptkashi. It crashed in Gaurikund, leading to seven deaths. We are ascertaining the reason for the crash.”
The chopper crashed at Gauri Mai Khark, which is about a 5 km trek uphill from Gaurikund.
The deceased have been identified as Captain Rajbir Singh Chauhan from Jaipur, who was the pilot, Vikram Rawat from Ukhimath in Uttarakhand, Vinod Devi and Trishti Singh from Uttar Pradesh, Rajkumar Suresh Jaiswal, Shraddha Rajkumar Jaiswal and two-year-old Kashi from Maharashtra.
Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) issued a statement saying that the helicopter of Aryan Aviation, a BELL 407 utility chopper, “crashed near Gaurikund due to unknown reasons”. “According to initial information, there were a total of seven people on board the helicopter, including the pilot. The passengers are said to be from the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat. In view of rescue and relief efforts, teams from the NDRF and SDRF have been dispatched to the accident site,” the statement added.
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UCADA CEO Sonika said that they have dispatched a team to the site to probe the reasons behind the crash. Meanwhile, district tourism development officer Rahul Choubey informed that bad weather had prompted the pilot to take the helicopter outside the valley, leading to the crash.
Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the SDRF, local administration and other rescue teams are engaged in relief and rescue operations. “I pray to Baba Kedar for the safety of all the travellers,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
In the wake of recent helicopter crashes in the state, Dhami has issued directives to formulate a stringent Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the operation of heli-services in Uttarakhand. He said that technical inspections of helicopters and precise weather assessments before every flight should be mandated. “The Chief Minister has directed the Chief Secretary to constitute a committee of technical experts that will conduct an in-depth review of all technical and safety aspects of helicopter operations and formulate the SOP. This committee will ensure that heli-services operate in a safe, transparent manner and in strict adherence to established standards. He has also directed that the high-level committee constituted to probe previous helicopter accidents will now also investigate today’s crash in detail. The committee will examine the causes behind each incident and identify any negligent individuals or agencies, recommending strict action against them,” a statement from his office read.
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On May 8, five passengers and a pilot were killed after a helicopter they were travelling in plunged into a gorge while flying to Gangotri. A helicopter carrying five passengers to Kedarnath on June 7 had to make a quick landing on a highway in Uttarakhand. The chopper hit technical snag during take-off, prompting the precautionary landing on the road.
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