A helicopter travelling from Badrinath Dham to the Sahastradhara helipad in Dehradun crashed in the Hathi Parvat hills above Chai village in the Joshimath area of Chamoli district this afternoon. All six people on board, including the pilot, died in the accident.
According to Secretary of Disaster Management and Rehabilitation, Vinod Kumar Suman, information about the crash was received at around 2 PM. An Army Signal Centre team had spotted smoke rising from the helicopter and observed it rapidly descending in the area. All the passengers on board were from Karnataka.
Soon after receiving the information, teams from the Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Police and District Administration reached the spot and launched relief and rescue operations.
Governor Dr. Dhal Singh Bisen and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed deep grief over the loss of lives and conveyed their condolences to the bereaved families. Chief Minister Dhami has also directed a detailed investigation into the causes of the accident.
