Six killed in Uttarakhand helicopter crash as teams battle difficult terrain to recover bodies
All six people on board a helicopter flying pilgrims from Badrinath to Dehradun were killed when it crashed near Joshimath on Friday, and multi-agency teams resumed a difficult recovery operation in remote mountain terrain on Saturday.
All six people on board a private helicopter flying pilgrims from the shrine town of Badrinath to Dehradun were killed when the aircraft crashed into a hillside near Joshimath in Uttarakhand on Friday afternoon, officials said. The victims were five pilgrims from Karnataka and the pilot, and their bodies were found in the wreckage in remote, mountainous terrain.
The helicopter, operated by Trans Bharat Aviation and bearing the call sign VT-HCX, took off from the Badrinath civil helipad at 1.12pm on Friday for Sahastradhara in Dehradun, according to the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority. Within minutes it lost contact with air traffic control, and it was later found to have crashed near Chai village in the Joshimath area of Chamoli district, in the Hathi Parvat area.
The five passengers, all from Bengaluru, had completed the pilgrimage to Kedarnath and Badrinath — two of the Char Dham shrines — and were returning to Dehradun when the crash happened. They were identified as Arun Salunke, an inspector with the Central Crime Branch of Bengaluru Police, and his friends Pratap Gowda Bachihalli, VB Shankar Gowda, Sudhir K and HS Nataraja. The pilot was Captain Himanshu Sabharwal, aged 48, a Delhi resident.
The crash happened in poor weather. Reports cited overcast conditions and snowfall in the area, and the India Meteorological Department had issued a yellow alert for all districts in Uttarakhand on Friday, with an orange alert for Chamoli forecasting thunderstorms, hail, gusty winds and heavy rain. Whether the weather caused the crash is not yet known, and officials have stressed that the cause remains under investigation.
The rescue operation began on Friday but was suspended as darkness fell, with difficult terrain and the presence of wild animals in the forested crash site hampering the teams. On Saturday morning, teams from the Indian Army, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the State Disaster Response Force, the National Disaster Response Force, police, the district administration and the Forest Department resumed the operation, trekking along difficult mountain paths from the direction of Pandukeshwar to reach the site.
Prateek Jain, chief executive of the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority, told the Press Trust of India that although the bodies had been found, recovering them was difficult because of the terrain. The mortal remains were being brought to the nearest motorable road and on to Joshimath for post-mortem examination, before being taken to Dehradun for further formalities.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives and said orders had been issued for an investigation to establish the exact cause of the crash. A team from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, which is probing the accident, was also expected to visit the site on Saturday.
The crash has renewed scrutiny of helicopter operations in Uttarakhand's pilgrimage corridors. Ministry of Civil Aviation data for 2020 to 2025, cited by The Tribune, shows that the state accounted for seven of the 12 helicopter crashes reported across India during the period, claiming 21 lives.
Questions are already being asked about the decision to fly on Friday. One report noted that a yellow alert was in force when the helicopter took off, and said the aircraft lost control two minutes after take-off. Officials have not yet said whether the flight should have been cleared, and that question is likely to be central to the investigation.
For the families in Karnataka, the loss is devastating. The five pilgrims were friends travelling together after completing two of Hinduism's most revered shrine visits, and their journey home ended within minutes of leaving Badrinath. Neighbours and colleagues have remembered them as a police officer, lawyers, businessmen and an educationist, in the words of local reports.
The investigation will now determine whether weather, mechanical failure or operational decisions were responsible, and whether shuttle and charter operations for the remainder of the pilgrimage season should change. Until its findings are published, the crash stands as another reminder of how unforgiving the Himalayan flying environment can be, even on a short, routine pilgrimage hop.
Saturday's recovery operation, meanwhile, continues. The teams face a trek back out of the mountains with the remains, and officials have warned that the difficult terrain and remote location could slow the effort even further before the families can receive the bodies.
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