Tragedy has struck India once again as a helicopter crash in the northern state of Uttarakhand claimed the lives of all seven people on board, including a child and the pilot.
According to a report by the BBC, the Aryan Aviation Bell 407 helicopter with registration VT-BKA was en route from Kedarnath to Guptkashi, a pilgrimage route through the Himalayan mountains, when it went down early Sunday morning.
The Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Department revealed that contact with the aircraft was lost around 5:30 AM. “We got the information that a helicopter, which was going from Shri Kedarnath Dham, could not be located,” the agency said.
The helicopter was carrying five passengers, including a two-year-old child, along with one crew member and the pilot.
Local authorities and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were promptly deployed to the crash site to begin rescue and recovery operations. The SDRF described the development as “very sad news.”
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) confirmed the fatalities and announced that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau would lead a full investigation into the cause of the crash.
This fresh tragedy comes just three days after a devastating plane crash rocked the city of Ahmedabad, where an India Air Boeing 787 crashed into a residential area, killing more than 240 people.
Efforts are still ongoing at the Ahmedabad crash site, as rescue teams continue to comb through the wreckage in search of more victims and clues.
The Civil Hospital in the city told The Associated Press that it had received 270 bodies so far. One lone survivor remains hospitalized but is said to be recovering well.
“He is doing very well and will be ready to be discharged anytime soon,” a hospital spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, grieving relatives of the deceased have begun submitting DNA samples to aid the process of identifying their loved ones.
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