Six people, including the pilot, were killed after a Trans Bharat Aviation helicopter flying from Badrinath to Dehradun crashed near Chayee village close to Joshimath in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Friday. As rescue agencies reached the crash site, UCADA CEO Prateek Jain announced the grounding of the operator’s entire fleet as a precautionary measure.
KHABAR365 NEWS NETWORK
DEHRADUN/JOSHIMATH, OCT. 30: Six people were killed after a helicopter operated by Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt. Ltd. crashed near Chayee village in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Friday, prompting a massive rescue and recovery operation involving the SDRF, district administration, Army and ITBP.
The helicopter, bearing registration VT-HCX, was operating on the Badrinath-Sahastradhara (Dehradun) route when it reportedly lost contact over the Joshimath valley shortly after take-off.
Rescue teams later traced the wreckage in the mountainous region amid persistent rainfall, dense cloud cover and poor visibility, conditions that had been reported across parts of Chamoli district during the day.
According to police officials in Chamoli, all six persons on board, including pilot Capt. Himanshu and five passengers, lost their lives in the crash.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami termed the incident unfortunate and said rescue and relief agencies had been mobilised immediately. In a post on X, he said the district administration, Disaster Management Department and SDRF were jointly conducting operations and that he was personally monitoring the situation.
The Chief Minister also directed officials to provide all possible assistance and ensure necessary support to the families affected by the tragedy.
In a significant development, UCADA Chief Executive Officer Prateek Jain announced that the entire fleet of Trans Bharat Aviation has been grounded with immediate effect as a safety precaution following the accident.
The decision comes as authorities begin examining the circumstances surrounding the crash, including weather conditions and operational aspects of the flight.
Search, rescue and recovery operations were carried out jointly by the Chamoli district administration, SDRF, Army and other agencies in the difficult Himalayan terrain.
365 Takeaway
The grounding of Trans Bharat Aviation’s entire fleet underscores the seriousness of the tragedy, which occurred amid poor visibility, dense cloud cover and rainfall in Uttarakhand’s weather-sensitive Himalayan region.