Dehradun: A helicopter with eight persons on board met with an accident while taking off from Badrinath on Saturday morning.
A 35-year-old crew member was hit by the rotor blades and died on the spot while the two pilots suffered minor injuries as the Haridwar-bound chopper hit the ground shortly after take off at around 7.35am.
Five passengers aboard the chopper – Ramesh Bhai Patel, Navin Bhai Patel, Harish Bhai Daswad, Jyostsana Patel and Leela Daswad – hailing from Vadodara in Gujarat had a narrow escape as none of them suffered injuries in the mishap.
Superintendent of Police (Chamoli) Tripti Bhatt told TOI that the chopper lost balance while taking off and crashed at 100 metres toward Govind Ghat from the helipad. “The deceased was Vikam Lamba, who was the engineer of the helicopter.” Lamba belonged to Assam and his family members have been contacted by Chamoli police.
Pilot Sanjay Wasi (39) complained of back pain and co-pilot Alka Shukla suffered minor injury.
“All five pilgrims are safe and they have left for Haridwar in a SUV,” Bhatt said.
Police teams, the State Disaster Response Force and senior state officers rushed to the spot following report of the mishap.
Garhwal Commissioner Vinod Sharma has ordered a magisterial probe into the matter. The probe would be headed by SDM Joshimath.
Bureau Report
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