Uttarakhand: 7 Dead After Helicopter En Route To Kedarnath Crashes Near Gaurikund Amid Poor Weather

Seven individuals lost their lives after a helicopter carrying six passengers from Kedarnath to Guptkashi crashed near Gaurikund in Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district early on Sunday morning, according to people familiar with the matter.

The helicopter, operated by Aryan Aviation, departed from the Kedarnath helipad at approximately 5:20 am but later went "missing" when authorities lost contact with it, reported the Hindustan Times.

Photo Credit: PTI

Inspector Anirudh Bhandari of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) confirmed, "All seven people on board in chopper are dead."

The deceased were identified as Captain Rajveer Singh Chauhan (pilot); Rajkumar Suresh Jaiswal (41), Shradha Rajkumar Jaiswal (35), and Kashi (a 23-month-old infant), all from Maharashtra; Vikram (46) from Rudraprayag; and Vinod Dev (66) and Tusti Singh (29), both residents of Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh.

District tourism officer Rahul Chaubey, who also serves as the nodal officer for helicopter services in Rudraprayag, stated, "We received information about missing helicopter earlier this morning. A search operation was launched to trace the helicopter. The belonging to Aryan Aviation was returning from Kedarnath Dham to its base in Guptkashi when it encountered sudden adverse weather conditions in the valley. The pilot attempted to navigate the helicopter out of the valley; however, the aircraft crashed during the effort."

He added, "There were seven people on board, including pilot, five passengers and an infant."

"After locals saw smoke billowing out near Gaurikund, we came to know that it is the chopper we lost signal with has crashed."

This marks the fifth helicopter incident along the Char Dham route in under 40 days.

It follows closely on the heels of another incident on 7 June, when a helicopter transporting five pilgrims made an emergency landing on the Guptkashi-Gaurikund highway near Barasu in the Rudraprayag district.

That incident occurred around 1 pm and, while the pilot suffered minor injuries, no fatalities were reported.

Reacting to the crash, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, "Very sad news has been received about a helicopter crash in Rudraprayag district. SDRF, local administration and other rescue teams are engaged in relief and rescue operations. I pray to Baba Kedar for the safety of all the travellers."

This tragic accident comes just days after 270 individuals were killed in another major aviation disaster, when an Air India flight crashed into a medical hostel in Ahmedabad shortly after take-off.

All but one of the 242 passengers and crew aboard the Boeing 787-8 (AI171) perished, along with 29 others on the ground - including five medical students - after the aircraft, which had departed from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, crashed into the campus of the BJ Medical College in the Meghaninagar area and burst into flames.