All seven people on board an air ambulance were killed after the aircraft crashed in Jharkhand’s Chatra district on Monday night, officials confirmed.
The aircraft, operated by Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd, was en route from Ranchi to Delhi when it went missing.
“The aircraft went missing around 7:30 pm. It crashed in the Bariatu Panchayat area of Simaria,” Chatra Deputy Commissioner Keerthishree G. said, adding that the crash site is located deep inside a forest.
She said that, prima facie, the accident appears to have been caused by bad weather, though the exact cause will be determined after a detailed investigation by aviation authorities.
According to a statement issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the flight took off from Ranchi airport at 7:11 pm.
“The aircraft became airborne from Ranchi at 19:11 IST. After establishing contact with Kolkata at 19:34 IST, it lost communication and radar contact with Kolkata at approximately 100 nautical miles southeast of Varanasi,” the statement said.
The deceased were identified as Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat, Captain Savrajdeep Singh, Sanjay Kumar, Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta, Sachin Kumar Mishra, Archana Devi, and Dhuru Kumar.
Anant Sinha, CEO of Devkamal Hospital in Ranchi, told PTI that the air ambulance had been arranged for one of their patients, Sanjay Kumar (41), a resident of Chandwa in Latehar district.
“The patient was admitted to the hospital on February 16 with 65 percent burn injuries and was undergoing treatment,” he said. Kumar’s family later decided to shift him to Delhi for advanced treatment and arranged the air ambulance on Monday.