A tragic helicopter crash early Sunday morning has claimed the lives of all seven people on board, including the pilot and a child, marking the fifth such incident in India in less than two months.
According to Indian media outlet NDTV, the helicopter was transporting pilgrims from the Kedarnath Temple to Guptkashi in the northern state of Uttarakhand when it lost contact with air traffic control. The aircraft went down in a dense forest area just ten minutes after takeoff.
Authorities confirmed the accident occurred at approximately 5:30 a.m. local time. The passengers, identified as pilgrims from the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, were visiting the sacred Himalayan temple as part of the ongoing Char Dham Yatra pilgrimage.
A statement from the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Department cited either a technical malfunction or deteriorating weather conditions as the likely cause of the crash. Rescue operations were launched after a local resident discovered wreckage in the forest and alerted authorities. A team from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was immediately dispatched to the crash site.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed condolences on the social media platform X, writing: “Received the tragic news of the helicopter accident. Local teams and emergency services are on-site and doing their utmost.”
This marks the fifth aviation-related incident in India in the past six weeks. On June 7, another helicopter narrowly avoided disaster after suffering a technical malfunction, resulting in minor injuries to the pilot and one passenger. In late May, a training aircraft crashed in Maharashtra, while a chartered plane made an emergency landing in Delhi due to engine failure. Additionally, an air ambulance overshot the runway in Bengaluru in early June.
The recent surge in aerial mishaps has raised serious concerns over the safety protocols of helicopter services, particularly during the high-traffic pilgrimage season in the mountainous regions of India.