A medical chartered flight heading to Delhi from Ranchi on Monday crashed in Simaria, near Jharkhand's Chatra, according to officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
There were seven people on board and one person has died. The deceased was identified as Sanjay Kumar, 41, a burn patient who was being airlifted.
The air amblulance, identified as Redbird Airways’ Beechcraft C90 (VT-AJV), departed Ranchi at 7.07 pm, airlifting the patient to Delhi. Other occupants of the flight included a doctor, a paramedic and two attendants along with pilot-in-command Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat and co-pilot Savrajdeep Singh.
Four other occupants, identified as members of the patient’s family, were also on board: Archana Devi, Dhuru Kumar, Vikas Gupta and Sachin Mishra, officials said.The flight, which was expected to land in Delhi around 10 pm, lost contact with Air Traffic Control at 7.34 pm and went off radar.
It was last tracked near Palamau and was later found to have crashed in Kasiyatu forest in Simaria, Chatra.
"The plane did not contact the Ranchi airport. The State has been informed about this. All necessary SOPs are being followed," ANI quoted airport sources as saying.
A probe has been ordered by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).