A helicopter carrying Kedarnath pilgrims from Phata village in Uttarakhand crashed on Tuesday near Garud Chatti, Indiakilling all six people who were on board. The chopper crashed moments after taking off from the Kedarnath Dham, as per initial reports.
All six people on board, including the pilot, have been confirmed dead in the chopper crash that took place just about 3 km from Kedarnath. The Bell-407 helicopter (VT-RPN) belonged to Aryan Aviation and crashed around 11:45 am.
Rudraprayag CO said that rescue teams are on the way to the crash site.
Visuals from the spot showed massive plume of smoke in the aftermath of the crash. Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted over the incident and said the situation is being constantly monitored.
“The helicopter crash in Kedarnath is extremely unfortunate. We are in touch with the State government to ascertain the magnitude of the loss, and are constantly monitoring the situation,” Jyotiradtiya Scindia said in the tweet.
The cause of the crash is yet to be ascertained, however, fog and poor visibility are said to have played a role as visuals from the crash site suggested bad weather conditions.
Nine private chopper services are said to be operational in routes to ferry pilgrims from the ghati to the Kedarnath temple. Guptkashi, Phata and Sirsi are the three areas of Rudraprayag district where pilgrims take helicopter rides from to reach the Kedarnath shrine.
News 18