JOSHIMATH, India — A helicopter carrying five passengers and a pilot crashed Friday near Joshimath after leaving Badrinath for Dehradun, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said.
The Trans Bharat Aviation helicopter, VT-HCX, took off from Badrinath at about 1:14 p.m. Indian Standard Time on Oct. 30, the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) said in a press note shared by ANI on X. It was bound for Sahastradhara in Dehradun.
Radio communication and tracking were lost as the helicopter crossed the Joshimath valley. UCADA said its location had not yet been ascertained in that statement.
Prateek Jain, UCADA’s chief executive, gave the same takeoff time and loss of tracking to The Indian Express. He said the five passengers were from Bengaluru, according to the manifest, and that the details were being verified.
UCADA named those aboard as Prathapa, Arun, Shankar Gowda, Sudheer K and H.S. Natraja, with Capt. Himanshu as pilot.
Police received word at 2:21 p.m. of a reported crash landing above Chai village, Sub-Inspector Manohar Kanyal said, according to the Express. State Disaster Response Force teams left Joshimath and Pandukeshwar for the site at 2:24 p.m.
In a post on X, Dhami placed the reported crash near Chai village. He said the district administration, the disaster management department and the SDRF were conducting a joint rescue operation.
Dhami said he was monitoring the incident and had ordered the immediate airlift of any seriously injured people to a higher medical center. UCADA said Army, district administration and SDRF teams were mobilised and dispatched for search and rescue.
As a precaution, UCADA grounded Trans Bharat Aviation’s entire fleet, according to its statement.
The India Meteorological Department had issued an orange alert for Chamoli district for Friday. The Express reported a forecast of thunderstorms, hail and gusty winds, with rain and snowfall likely along the Badrinath-Joshimath sector.
Neither report gave a confirmed account of the condition of the six people aboard. The cause of the crash was not stated.
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