BENGALURU: 6 persons including 5 from Karnataka on board a helicopter are feared dead after a chopper in which they were flying is suspected to have crashed at a location in Chamoli of Uttarakhand on Friday morning while search is on to trace the missing persons. The private helicopter was operated by Trans Bharat Aviation Private Limited based in New Delhi.
The helicopter is said to be on its way to Badrinath, a Hindu pilgrim place in Uttarakhand to Sahastradhara in Dehradun when the chopper lost its way somewhere at Joshimath valley suspected to have crashed at a location in the valley. Passengers’ on board the helicopter have been identified as Captain Himanshu, a pilot while passengers as Arun, Inspector, Central Crime Branch, Bengaluru, Shankar Gowda and Sudheer, both advocates, Prathapa, a resident of Hassan and H.S. Nagaraja.
Passengers’ details furnished to the travel agency stated Prathapa weighed 65 kgs, Arun weighed 89, Shankar Gowda weighed 83, Sudheer weighed 100 kgs and Nagaraja weighed 79. Baggage weighed 24 kgs taking the total to 446 kgs including passengers’ weight of 422.
A press release from Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) stated the helicopter took off at around 1.15 pm and has been reported missing. The helicopter lost communication when it was flying over Joshimath valley. The release added the tracking system could no longer track the helicopter and the current location has not been ascertained yet.
Uttarakhand officials immediately upon receiving information about the incident, teams from the Indian Army, District Administration of Chamoli and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been mobilised and dispatched to initiate search and rescue operations. As a precautionary measure, the entire fleet of Trans Bharat Aviation Private limited has been grounded.
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