Uttarakhand chopper crash: All six on board dead, AAIB to investigate

All six people aboard a helicopter that crashed into a hillside in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, on Friday have died, police said. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will probe the crash.

The privately operated helicopter, belonging to Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt Ltd, crashed about an hour after taking off from Badrinath for Dehradun. The victims included the pilot, Capt Himanshu, and five passengers — Prathapa, Arun, Shankar Gowda, Sudheer K and H S Natraja. All six were from Bengaluru.

The bodies have been located but are yet to be recovered, Chamoli Superintendent of Police Surjit Singh Panwar said.

A senior official told PTI that an AAIB team had left for the crash site to investigate the accident.

The crash comes amid concerns over helicopter safety in Uttarakhand's Char Dham pilgrimage sector. In an accident investigation report released earlier this month, the AAIB recorded eight helicopter accidents and one serious incident in the sector between 2015 and 2025.

Five of the eight accidents were fatal, the report said, adding that most were attributed to flight crew members' failure to follow standard operating procedures.

The report also noted that at least one accident or serious incident had occurred every year since 2022. Operations were limited during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, when no accidents were reported.

Badrinath is one of the four shrines that make up Uttarakhand's Char Dham pilgrimage circuit, along with Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.
(PTI inputs)