5 women devotees killed in helicopter crash in Uttarkashi

Five women devotees and the pilot of the helicopter carrying them crashed in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi hills Thursday morning. The victims were visiting the Chardham and the lone surviving pilgrim has been airlifted to AIIMS Rishikesh.

The victims included three from Mumbai, and one each from Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, police said.

Advertisement

According to the information shared by Uttarakhand State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF), the incident took place at Bhatwadi area when the helicopter was flying from Kharsali near Yamunotri shrine towards Harsil Valley enroute Gangotri.

The ill- fated helicopter VT-OXF belonging to Aerotrans Services Private Limited fell into a nearly 200-250 metres deep gorge owing to bad weather and some technical snag.

The helicopter took off from Shahastradhara helipad Dehradun to Harsil Valley with seven Chardham devotees who were to first visit Yamunotri and then Gangotri. The seven member heli crew included five women pilgrims and one male passenger with the pilot.

All six devotees had successfully paid their visit to Yamunotri Shrine but the heli crashed as it was flying to land at Harsil Valley where from the pilgrims would have gone to Gangotri on road.

Although official confirmation of the deceased persons was not made by the state government and the agencies, SDRF officials confirmed that six bodies were found and effort was being made to retrieve them.

One Passenger from Andhra Pradesh identified as Maktoor Bhaskar, 51, was seriously injured and airlifted to All India Institute of Medical Science(AIIMS) Rishikesh for treatment. Bhaskar is a resident of Mominabad, Guntakal, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. Sadly the dead Andhra Pradesh passenger was his 48-years old Vedanti.

Among other deceased Chardham devotees were three from Mumbai, one from Uttar Pradesh and Vadodara based 60 years old pilot Robin Singh. They have been identified as 57 years old Vijayalakshmi Reddy C, Ruchi Agarwal, 56 years, and 61-year Kala Chandrakant Soni, all residents of Powai Mumbai. Another woman devotee who lost her life was 79 years old Radha Agarwal from Bareilly Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, a rescue operation was in progress by the team of SDRF, local police and District Disaster Management Authority to recover the bodies at the time of writing the story.