Badrinath helicopter crash: All six on board dead, bodies recovered
A helicopter operated by Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt. Ltd. crashed into a hillside near Joshimath, Uttarakhand, approximately one hour after taking off from Badrinath en route to Dehradun
All six individuals on board, including the pilot and five passengers from Bengaluru, tragically died when a Trans Bharat Aviation helicopter crashed into a hillside in Joshimath after losing communication on its flight from Badrinath to Dehradun, prompting authorities to recover the bodies, dispatch rescue teams, and ground the operator's entire fleet.
All six individuals on board, including the pilot and five passengers from Bengaluru, tragically died when a Trans Bharat Aviation helicopter crashed into a hillside in Joshimath after losing communication on its flight from Badrinath to Dehradun, prompting authorities to recover the bodies, dispatch rescue teams, and ground the operator's entire fleet.
All six individuals on board, including the pilot and five passengers from Bengaluru, tragically died when a Trans Bharat Aviation helicopter crashed into a hillside in Joshimath after losing communication on its flight from Badrinath to Dehradun, prompting authorities to recover the bodies, dispatch rescue teams, and ground the operator's entire fleet.
All six people on board the helicopter, including the pilot, that crashed into a hillside in Joshimath have died, and their bodies have been recovered on Friday.
The chopper, owned by Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt. Ltd., crashed about an hour after it took off from Badrinath on its way to Dehradun.
The six people on board the helicopter were identified as Capt. Himanshu and five male passengers—Prathapa, Arun, Shankar Gowda, Sudheer K, and H.S Natraja. All of them hailed from Bengaluru in Karnataka.
One of the deceased, Arun, was a police inspector with the Bengaluru Police Crime Branch.
The bodies have been recovered, according to media reports.
The chopper crashed into a hillside near the JP Power House near Marwari Bridge around 2.20 pm, officials said.
Teams of the Chamoli administration, police, SDRF, Army and ITBP have been dispatched to the site for relief and rescue operations, they said.
The Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) said that the helicopter bearing call sign VT-HCX, operating from Badrinath to Sahastradhara, Dehradun, which took off at approximately 1:15 pm, went missing around 2:20 pm. "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," said a statement issued by UCADA.
UCADA said that as a precautionary measure, the entire fleet of Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt. Ltd. has been grounded.
An analysis by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) showed that there were nine occurrences, including eight accidents and one serious incident, in the Char Dham sector during the in 2015-2025 period, with at least 1 accident or serious incident every year from 2022 onwards.