Six Killed as Helicopter Crashes in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath Valley

India: All six people aboard a private helicopter were killed on Friday after the aircraft crashed into a hillside near Joshimath in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district while flying from Badrinath to Dehradun.

The helicopter, operated by Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt. Ltd. and bearing registration VT-HCX, took off from Badrinath Civil Helipad at around 1:12–1:14 pm for Sahastradhara Helipad in Dehradun. Air traffic contact was reportedly lost shortly after takeoff, and the aircraft crashed at approximately 2:20 pm near Chai village, close to the JP Power House and Marwari Bridge.

Rescue teams from the Indian Army, including personnel of the 9 Independent Mountain Brigade, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), police, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and district administration rushed to the crash site. An Army team reached the location at around 3:30 pm and confirmed that all six occupants had died at the scene. Their bodies were subsequently recovered.

The pilot was identified as Captain Himanshu Sabharwal, a resident of Delhi. The five passengers were identified as Arun Salunke, a police inspector with the Bengaluru Police Crime Branch; H.S. Natraj; Prathapa Ningarajan; Sudeer K; and Shankargowda VB. All five passengers were reportedly residents of Bengaluru, Karnataka. Some reports said that several of them were advocates.

Officials said the helicopter was operating in challenging weather conditions, with reports of heavy rainfall and dense cloud cover in the mountainous region. The aircraft was completely destroyed in the crash, with only its tail section remaining relatively intact.

Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) Chief Executive Officer Prateek Jain confirmed the deaths. Authorities also established contact with the families of the victims and the Karnataka administration. The bodies were being transported from the remote crash site for post-mortem examinations before being handed over to their families.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said he was closely monitoring the situation and that a joint rescue operation had been launched. As a precautionary measure, the entire fleet of Trans Bharat Aviation was grounded following the accident.

Officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) are expected to investigate the incident and determine the cause of the crash.