- The Jharkhand air ambulance crashed in stormy weather near Simaria, killing seven people
- Victims included two pilots, a doctor, paramedic, patient, and two relatives of the patient
- Families expressed grief and criticised the lack of adequate medical facilities in Jharkhand
The Jharkhand air ambulance crash has left several families shattered, as they try to cope with the sudden loss of seven people who had boarded the aircraft with the sole purpose of saving a life.
The Beechcraft C90, flying a critically ill burn patient from Ranchi to Delhi, went down in stormy weather near Jharkhand's Simaria in Chatra on Monday night.
Among those killed were two pilots, a doctor, a paramedic, the patient and two of his relatives. On Tuesday, their families shared the grief, a father who sold his farmland to educate his son, a family whose attempt to save a burn victim ended in a much bigger loss, and a brother who lost the person he called the foundation of his life.
Relatives Speak Of Irreplaceable Loss
The father of Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta, who was on board to accompany the patient, said he had invested everything to educate his son. He also expressed his frustration over the lack of medical facilities in the state.
"My son was a doctor. He told me he was going to Delhi with patients, but later I learned the aircraft had crashed and my son is no more. I sold my farmland to educate him. My elder son was posted in the Sadar Hospital, Ranchi... If there had been proper health facilities here, why would they have gone to Delhi for treatment?"
A relative of Sanjay Kumar, the patient with severe burn injuries, described how the family had arranged the air ambulance only after his condition failed to improve in Ranchi. He said their attempt to get better treatment ended in tragedy.
"Sanjay Prasad had suffered severe burns. He was admitted to a hospital. There was no improvement in his condition during treatment, so we wanted to shift him to Delhi. In that process, we arranged a private jet, but it crashed. He had a small hotel, and a gas cylinder there had exploded, which caused the fire. That was how he got badly burnt."
He also expressed dissatisfaction and said the "government here is incapable and is doing nothing."
He added, "My demand to the government is that the system is extremely weak. Even when we go to private facilities, the arrangements turn into hardships, and today that hardship has turned into death. Our home has been completely destroyed. Not just one home, many families have been ruined. The government here is incapable and is doing nothing. If proper treatment had been available in Ranchi itself, we would not have had to take him to Delhi. And in the process of taking him to Delhi, this tragedy happened, my entire family has been wiped out. Our very existence has been shattered. There are two children who have now become like orphans. What will happen to them, I do not know."
A family member of paramedic Sachin Kumar Mishra remembered him as his "entire world" and someone who worked from a young age.
"My younger brother, Sachin Kumar Mishra, was everything to me. He was like my own child. He was my whole life and my entire world. Since my father is no more, he was my only support. He worked as a nursing paramedical staff member for many years. For the past two to three years, he had been working in an ambulance service."
"We had advised him many times to take a hospital job instead and not take such a big risk. I asked him to stay with me. He was the foundation of my life, my everything. Without him, my life feels completely incomplete. Somehow, I educated my younger brother and supported him. At a very young age, he started working to support the family, even though he did not have to. He began earning only because he saw the family's difficult situation. Otherwise, today my brother would have been living with me," the relative said.
What Happened During The Crash
The air ambulance, carrying a critically ill burn patient and six others, took off from Ranchi for New Delhi but requested a change in flight path due to bad weather, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Soon after, it disappeared from radar.
Local residents reported strong winds, heavy rain, lightning and loud thunder at the time of the crash. They said the aircraft hit the ground with a loud sound during the storm.
Authorities later recovered parts of the aircraft in a dense forest near Simaria. The victims were identified as:
- Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat
- Captain Savrajdeep Singh
- Sanjay Kumar
- Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta
- Sachin Kumar Mishra
- Archana Devi
- Dhuru Kumar
What The Ministers Said?
Following the incident, State Health Minister Irfan Ansari called it the biggest plane crash in Jharkhand and said the government moved quickly once the crash was confirmed.
"This is the biggest plane crash in Jharkhand state. An air ambulance's job is to save lives, and it is a matter of concern that those who were saving lives themselves lost their lives. This incident happened yesterday when a Red Bird flight was carrying a patient to Delhi... The aircraft suddenly disappeared from the radar. Some parts of the aircraft were found in a dense forest in Simaria, Chatra."
He added, "When we investigated further, it became clear that the plane had crashed. Once the news about the crash was confirmed, we deployed the district administration, our entire team, and the health department team. Seven bodies were brought to the Chatra Sadar Hospital. Postmortem examinations have now been conducted."
Ranchi MP and Minister of State (MoS) Defence Sanjay Seth said the weather changed suddenly and an investigation would determine whether the cause was bad weather, human error or a technical issue.
"Last night's plane crash was extremely tragic. We were busy with election work, and after it ended we learned about the incident. The weather had been clear during the day, but suddenly it changed. A yellow alert had been issued, followed by lightning, thunder, strong winds and heavy rain. It will be known only after the investigation whether bad weather, human error or a technical problem caused the crash. One patient from Latehar with 60-65% burn injuries was being taken from Ranchi to Delhi for treatment along with his wife and nephew. A doctor, paramedical staff and two pilots were also on board. It is very unfortunate that a patient being taken for treatment lost his life in this tragic crash."
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) team will arrive in Chatra at 1:00 pm to investigate the plane crash. The black box is expected to reveal the cause of the incident. All the bodies of the victims have been recovered and sent to hospital for post-mortem.
Redbird Airways, owned by Akshay Yadav, was established in 2018 and received its permit to serve non-scheduled flights in 2019, according to its website. It has six planes in the fleet, including the one which crashed on Monday evening, as per the DGCA website.
