Seven Killed as Air Ambulance Crashes in Jharkhand’s Chatra

A medical evacuation aircraft was crashed on the outskirts of Chatra district of Potahariya in Jharkhand killing all seven occupants on board after an air ambulance crashed in a forested area on Monday evening, officials confirmed.

The plane was on its way towards Delhi and lost its contact to the air traffic control about 20 minutes after leaving Ranchi at 7:11 pm. The remains were finally found in Bariatu region within Simaria subdivision, in a deep forest land.

District authorities claimed that no one survived.

Victims Identified

The people who were killed in the crash include pilots Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat and Captain Savrajdeep Singh, patient Sanjay Kumar, attending physician Dr Vikash Kumar Gupta, paramedic Sachin Kumar Mishra and attendants Archana Devi and Dhuru Kumar.

Chatra Deputy Commissioner, Keerthishree G said that the aircraft lost radar in the air at about 7:30 pm before crashing in Kasaria Panchayat. The police officials affirmed that the site has recovered all the seven bodies.

The Beechcraft C90 which was flown by the Delhi-based Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd was also an air ambulance. Hospital authorities claimed that the patient was 41-year-old Sanjay Kumar of Latehar district and had suffered severe burns and was being treated in a private hospital in Ranchi.

According to hospital officials, the family decided to fly him to Delhi to get advanced medical treatment and contracted the chartered air ambulance. He had departed the hospital facility earlier in the evening before boarding the flight.

Loss of Contact Mid-Air

Officials of the international airport in Ranchi said that communication with the plane was lost about 20 minutes after takeoff. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) admitted that the aircraft had made communication with the Kolkata air traffic control before losing all radio and radar communication.

The plane was said to have gone off radar at 100 nautical miles southeast of Varanasi.

Although unfavorable weather conditions are under consideration as a potential cause of the accident, the government has expressed that the real cause of the accident could only be established after thorough investigation.

Probe Underway

The search and rescue operation was initiated immediately after the crash was reported and local administration and other emergency teams arrived at the remote location.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has been leading the investigation to establish the chronology of events that contributed to the accident.

The Redbird Airways is a non-scheduled airline in Delhi that runs six planes, including the one involved in the crash.

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