A helicopter carrying Kedarnath pilgrims from Phata in Uttarakhand crashed this morning. Abhinav Kumar, Special Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister has told that six people have died in the accident. The accident happened 2 km away from Kedarnath. Police and State Disaster Response Force teams reached the accident site and launched a search and rescue operation.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said in a tweet that this accident is very unfortunate. He said that the central government is in touch with the state government and is continuously monitoring the situation. Narendra Modi has expressed grief over the helicopter crash in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand. Smt. Murmu said that the news of the death of several pilgrims including Pilot is very sad.
In the accident, all the six passengers including the pilot died on the spot. Among the dead were Urvi Brar (25), Kurti Brar (30), Poorva Ramanuj (26), Prem Kumar V (63), Sujatha (56) Kala (60) along with the helicopter pilot Anil Kumar.
District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar, who was present on the spot, said that the helicopter crashed into several parts and the middle part was burnt to ashes.