Key points
- Aircraft went missing in Gaurikund area of Uttarakhand: Media reports
- Incident comes days after an Air India flight to London crashed in Ahmedbad
ISLAMABAD: A helicopter crashed in the mountainous Gaurikund area of northern India’s Uttarakhand state on Sunday, killing all seven on board, local authorities and media reported.
Reuters news agency cited Indian media as saying that the aircraft had gone missing in the Gaurikund area of Uttarakhand.
Rudraprayag District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar said that the accident took place above the forests of Gaurikund amid poor visibility due to bad weather, according to Indian media.
Air India Plane Crashes
India Today cited officials as saying poor visibility and turbulent atmospheric conditions were likely contributing factors.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said in a social media post that the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), local administration and other rescue teams were engaged in relief and rescue operations.
The incident comes days after an Air India flight to London crashed in Ahmedbad, killing 241 people on board and several others on the ground, India media reported.
This is not the first such accident on the Kedarnath route. In October 2022, a similar crash claimed the lives of seven people when a helicopter ferrying travelers went down near the same area.
