Dhami orders probe after Uttarakhand helicopter crash kills six

Six people died after a helicopter vanished from tracking shortly after takeoff. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has ordered officials to investigate what caused the crash. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has also ordered an investigation, according to the latest reports. The aircraft was carrying five passengers and a pilot from Badrinath toward Dehradun on Friday. ^1,2

The helicopter, run by Trans Bharat Aviation, left Badrinath for Sahastradhara in Dehradun at about 1:12 p.m. Its radar link was lost near Joshimath roughly two minutes later, and its tracking signal also stopped. Army personnel nearby reportedly saw it heading into a valley above the Bhandakand Temple near Pandukeshwar. Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force teams searched from two directions. A drone helped locate the wreckage near Chai village, and rescuers recovered all six bodies. ^2,9

The six victims included pilot Himanshu Sabharwal, from Delhi, and five passengers from Karnataka. Among them was Bengaluru Central Crime Branch officer Arun Salunke, whose wife and two children live in the city. The crash happened in a mountain region where narrow valleys and fast-changing weather can make helicopter flights difficult. An orange weather alert warned of thunderstorms, lightning, hail and strong winds in Chamoli. But officials have not established the crash’s cause. ^2,5,10

As an immediate safety step, Uttarakhand’s civil aviation authority halted Trans Bharat Aviation’s helicopters while investigators work. The accident adds to a record of deadly helicopter crashes on the state’s pilgrimage routes. Regulators have tightened rules after earlier crashes. Dhami has told officials to examine all aspects of the accident and support the victims’ families. Investigators must now establish what happened during the flight and whether any safety failures contributed. ^5,6