newspop
Uttarakhand : A helicopter journey from the holy town of Badrinath ended in tragedy on Friday after the aircraft crashed near Joshimath in Uttarakhand, claiming the lives of all six people on board. The helicopter, operated by Trans Bharat Aviation and bearing registration number VT-HCX, had taken off from Badrinath at around 1:14 pm and was reportedly travelling towards Dehradun when the accident occurred.
The aircraft was initially reported missing, triggering a search operation by the district administration. Aerial search teams were deployed, and smoke was spotted near Chaien village, eventually leading to the crash site.
According to initial reports, the five passengers were residents of Bengaluru, while the pilot belonged to Delhi.
The pilot was identified as Himanshu Sabharwal, 48, a resident of Shalimar Bagh in West Delhi. The passengers were identified as Pratap B Ningaraju (41), Arun Salunke (44), Sudhir K (49), H.S. Nataraj (51) and Shankar Gowda VB (39), all from Bengaluru. Among the passengers, Arun Salunke was reportedly a police personnel, while Shankar Gowda was a lawyer.
Further details about the other passengers were not immediately available.
The incident has brought renewed attention to helicopter safety in the mountainous regions of Uttarakhand, where challenging terrain and changing weather conditions can make aviation operations difficult. Further details about the circumstances that led to the crash are awaited.
