Chamoli, Nov 3 (PTI) An official from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) fell ill while returning after inspecting a helicopter crash site in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath before he was rescued by an SDRF team to a safer location, police said on Tuesday.
Six people, including the pilot and five pilgrims from Karnataka, were killed on October 30 after a privately-run helicopter crashed on a hillside near Chai village in Joshimath while returning to Dehradun from Badrinath.
Chamoli SP Surjeet Singh Panwar said the police control room in Gopeshwar received information around 7 pm on Monday that a group including AAIB officials that set out for the crash site on November 1 via Pandukeshwar was facing an emergency.
According to the SP, an AAIB official was unable to walk after he suddenly fell ill.
A rescue team comprising State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) members was dispatched to the location, which carried the official on their shoulders and brought him to Pandukeshwar, navigating the difficult terrain, the officer said.
According to officials of the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA), the AAIB team was scheduled to return to Dehradun by noon after inspecting the crash site.
As the probe continues into the crash, a representative of Trans Aviation, the company that operated the chopper, told PTI that seven to eight helicopters took off from Badrinath between 12:30 pm and 1:30 pm on October 30.
Till 12 noon, chopper operations were suspended due to inclement weather. Another chopper operated by Trans Aviation took off from Badrinath after the operations resumed, around six minutes before the helicopter that crashed, and landed safely in Dehradun, he said.
“It is unlikely that the chopper developed a technical snag as it took off from Dehradun and had flown for an hour before landing in Badrinath,” he told PTI. PTI SPY ARI
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