Helicopter accidents on Char Dham Yatra route occurring at alarming frequency

Dehradun: Helicopter crashes or emergency landings are occurring at an alarming frequency on the Char Dham Yatra route in Uttarakhand, causing concern among people and the administration.

The latest crash of an Aryan Aviation Pvt Ltd chopper returning from Kedarnath near Guptkashi on Sunday morning, which killed all seven people on board, is the fifth mishap involving a helicopter on the pilgrimage route this year.

A Kestrel Aviation helicopter en route Kedarnath made an emergency landing on the highway in Rudraprayag district on June 7 after developing a technical snag shortly after take-off.

It made a hard landing on the road close to populated buildings, with its tail rotor hitting a parked car. All pilgrims on board, as well as the pilot, escaped narrowly.

The hard landing of the helicopter came about a month after another private chopper on its way to Gangotri temple crashed near Gangnani in Uttarkashi district on May 8, killing six people, including five women and the pilot, and leaving one male passenger seriously injured.

On May 12, a helicopter returning from Badrinath to Sersi with pilgrims on board had to make an emergency landing in a school playground in Ukhimath due to poor visibility. All pilgrims were safe.

The helicopter took off again after about an hour when the weather improved.

On May 17, a heli ambulance from AIIMS Rishikesh crash-landed near the Kedarnath helipad in Uttarakhand due to damage to its rear part. Fortunately, all three occupants on board – a doctor, a pilot, and a medical staff member – escaped unharmed.

"This was the fifth mishap involving a chopper on the Char Dham Yatra route within less than one-and-a-half months of the commencement of the pilgrimage this year," state Congress vice-president Suryakant Dhasmana said.

"It shows that the state government has no control over the aviation firms operating on the route. There is no SOP for chopper operations. In the mad rush for making money, the heli companies have thrown all caution to the wind. There is no cap on the number of sorties being undertaken by them in a day," Dhasmana said.

Social activist Anoop Nautiyal said it appears that the state government is not learning lessons from the recent mishaps involving choppers on the Yatra route.

"Four days ago, news came that there will be strict norms guiding heli operations now – only 3- 4 passengers will be allowed to board a chopper, not 5- 6. However, four days later, seven people, including the pilot, died in yet another helicopter accident," Nautiyal said.

“If you don’t want to change the system, why do you tell lies to the people? Will anyone who played with people’s lives be suspended? Will anyone take responsibility? Will these helicopters be reined in after five accidents in little over a month, or will they keep crashing like this," he asked.

Soon after the crash on Sunday, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held an emergency meeting and asked senior officials to prepare a strict SOP (standard operating procedure) for heli services in the state, making a thorough check of the technical condition of the choppers mandatory.

The Uttarakhand chief secretary has been directed to constitute a committee of technical experts, which will prepare the SOP after thoroughly reviewing all technical and safety aspects of heli operations.

The committee will ensure that the operation of heli services is completely safe, transparent, and as per the prescribed standards, an official statement said. Heli operations on the Yatra route have been suspended for two days, Dhami said.

“Operations will resume only after the safety of all passengers is ensured. The safety of the Yatris cannot be compromised,” he said.

Dhami also said that weather status should be checked before heli operations.

The chief minister has directed a committee constituted to investigate helicopter accidents to thoroughly probe every aspect of Sunday’s crash and earlier accidents and submit a report.