Badrinath helicopter crash: 6 killed as chopper goes down amid bad weather, rescue on

The six people on board were identified as pilot Capt Himanshu Sabharwal, 48, a Delhi resident, and passengers Pratapa, 41, Arun Salunke, 44, V B Shankar Gowda, 39, Sudhir K, 50, and HS Nataraja, 51, all residents of Karnataka.

Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday evening directed officials to conduct a detailed investigation into the Chamoli helicopter crash. The chief minister directed the concerned officials to investigate the causes of the accident and examine all aspects of the crash thoroughly.

Dhami expressed condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for peace to the departed souls. He also instructed the district administration to provide all possible assistance to the affected families and ensure that necessary relief and other arrangements are made promptly.

The helicopter, operated by Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt Ltd and bearing call sign VT-HCX, took off from Badrinath at around 1.14 pm for Sahastradhara in Dehradun, according to the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA).

The aircraft lost communication while flying over the Joshimath valley, following which its tracking system also stopped showing its location. As a precautionary measure, the entire fleet of Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt Ltd was grounded, it added.

Two helicopters from the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) were deployed for aerial reconnaissance on Friday as the state government launched an extensive search and rescue operation following helicopter crash in the Hathi Parvat area of Chamoli district.

Officials said the aerial operation involves a ‘reccy’ helicopter and a ‘retriever’ helicopter, while teams from the Army, ITBP, NDRF, SDRF, police and district administration have been dispatched to the suspected site. Another SDRF team has also been sent from Sahastradhara as authorities mounted simultaneous ground and aerial efforts to reach the helicopter and its occupants.

Following the incident, teams of the Indian Army, Chamoli district administration and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were mobilised and dispatched to carry out search and rescue operations, UCADA said. The search and rescue operation are underway.

Chief minister Dhami said he was closely monitoring the situation. District disaster management officer of Chamoli, Nand Kishore Joshi said the helicopter, which was returning to Dehradun after taking pilgrims for darshan at Badrinath Dham, met with an accident near Chayee village.

“A helicopter returning to Dehradun with pilgrims after darshan at Badrinath Dham has crashed near Chayee village in the Jyotirmath (previously Joshimath area) of Chamoli district. Its contact was lost near the hill close to Chayee village in the Marwari area of Joshimath,” Joshi said.

He said a State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team from Joshimath had been dispatched to the crash site to carry out search and rescue operations. “An SDRF team from Joshimath has left for the crash site for search and rescue operation,” Joshi said.

Officials were also coordinating efforts to reach the crash site in the mountainous terrain. Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region.

With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling.

An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice.

He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments.

Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society.

Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More