Uttarakhand Helicopter Crash | 6, Including Pilot, On Board Uttarakhand Chopper Killed In Crash

A helicopter reported missing on the Joshimath-Badrinath route in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand has crashed, killing all six on board, officials said on Friday. The helicopter, which took off from Badrinath around 1:14 pm amid snowfall, lost contact near the Hathi Parvat area. The chopper crashed into a hillside near the JP Power House near Marwari Bridge around 2.20 pm, officials said. All six passengers - Prathapa, Arun, Shankar Gowda, Sudheer K, HS Natraja and pilot Capt Himanshu - were male. The Badrinath temple is among the "char dhams" in Uttarakhand. Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath are the other shrines that make up the Char Dham Yatra, a Hindu pilgrimage circuit in the Himalayas. "Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt Ltd's helicopter bearing call sign VT-HCX, operating from Badrinath to Sahastradhara, Dehradun, which took off at approximately 13:14 hours has been reportedly missing. The helicopter lost communication when it was flying over Joshimath valley. At the same time, the tracking system could no longer track the helicopter, and its current location has not been ascertained yet," Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority said in a statement.