Union Minister Kiren Rijiju was leading a team of officials to Tehri in Uttarakhand on a visit to asses damage caused by rain.
A helicopter carrying Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju made an emergency landing at the Hindon airbase, 30 km from New Delhi, due to a technical problem this afternoon. All eight passengers on board the craft are reported safe.
Mr Rijiju, Tehri-Garhwal lawmaker Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah and officials of the Home Ministry took off in the Border Security Force chopper from the Safdarjung Airport in New Delhi for Tehri in Uttarakhand. The team was going to the hill state to assess disaster preparedness and meet BSF soldiers on the India-China border when the pilot discovered a technical snag in the MI 17 V5 aircraft while flying above Sonepat, sources told NDTV.
The craft made an emergency landing at the Hindon Airbase in Ghaziabad. Sources told NDTV that the passengers are all safe and were provided with another chopper to proceed to Uttarakhand.
10 personnel of the BSF were killed in December last year when a small plane of the paramilitary force crashed near the Delhi airport just after take-off. All on board the freshly refurbished B200 Super King - three officers and seven senior technicians - were killed. The incident raised doubts on the aircraft maintenance capabilities of the BSF, sources said.