Joshimath, October 30: All six people aboard the Trans Bharat Aviation helicopter that crashed near Joshimath in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Friday have died, and their bodies have been recovered, Chamoli Superintendent of Police Surjit Singh Panwar confirmed.

Source: LatestLY (PTI)

Joint teams of the Uttarakhand Police, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the Indian Army recovered the bodies from the crash site near Chai village, close to Joshimath, according to reports. Officials said the bodies were being brought to a road-connected point from the difficult terrain at the crash location.

Source: Nation Press

The pilot was identified as Capt. Himanshu Sabharwal, a resident of Delhi. The five passengers — Prathapa, Arun, Shankar Gowda, Sudheer K. and H.S. Natraja — were from Karnataka, police said. Officials confirmed there were no women or children on board.

According to the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA), the helicopter, bearing call sign VT-HCX, took off from Badrinath at approximately 1:14 pm for Sahastradhara in Dehradun. It lost communication while flying over the Joshimath valley, and its tracking system also stopped registering its location, prompting the search operation.

The crash occurred amid adverse weather in Uttarakhand, with rainfall and snowfall reported across parts of the state. The India Meteorological Department had issued an orange alert for Chamoli on October 30, warning of thunderstorms, lightning, hailstorms and gusty winds of 40-50 kmph in isolated areas. The exact cause of the crash has not yet been established.

As a precautionary measure, the Uttarakhand aviation authorities have grounded the entire fleet of Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt. Ltd. following the incident. Senior Congress leader and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat called for a formal inquiry into the pattern of helicopter accidents in the region, Nation Press reported.