A privately run helicopter carrying pilgrims from Badrinath crashed into a hillside in Joshimath in Uttarakhand on an overcast Friday afternoon, killing all six persons on board as it lost contact minutes after it took off for Dehradun, officials said. 

According to administrative sources, the bodies of the pilot and the five pilgrims from Karnataka were found in the vicinity of the wreckage in Chai village. 

But due to darkness and the difficult terrain, the bodies will be brought back from the crash site on Saturday, they added.

The IMD had issued an ‘orange alert’ for Chamoli for Friday. It had forecast thunderstorms, lightning, hailstorms, and gusty winds reaching speeds of 40 to 50 km/hour. 

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will probe the crash and its team has already left for the site, a senior official of the agency said. 

Additional District Magistrate of Chamoli, Vivek Prakash, said once the bodies will be brought to Joshimath town where post-mortem will be conducted on Saturday. 

Chamoli Superintendent of Police (SP) Surjit Singh Panwar said the helicopter, operated by Trans Bharat Aviation, lost contact less than two minutes after taking off from Badrinath. 

“The helicopter (call sign VT-HCX) departed from Badrinath for Sahastradhara (Dehradun) at 13:12 pm. Shortly thereafter, at 13:14 pm, contact with the helicopter was lost near Joshimath and information regarding its disappearance was received from an Army post,” he said. 

The District Emergency Operations Centre (DEOC) said the helicopter was spotted by the Army’s Signal Centre team in the Hathi Parvat area and “smoke was seen rising from the helicopter, and it was observed losing altitude rapidly”. 

The pilot was identified as Captain Himanshu Sabharwal (48) from Delhi. The other five deceased are H S Nataraja (51), Sudeer K (50), Arun Salunke (44), Prathapa Bachihalliy Ningarajan (41) and Shankargowda VB (39). Salunke was an inspector of Bengaluru Police’s Central Crime Branch. 

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed deep grief over the loss of lives and directed officials to conduct a detailed investigation into the causes of the accident. He emphasized that every aspect of the incident must be examined thoroughly.

He also instructed the district administration to provide all possible support to the affected families and to ensure that necessary relief and other arrangements are made promptly. 

The Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) said the helicopter lost communication when it was flying over Joshimath valley. 

“At the same time, the tracking system could no longer track the helicopter,” said a statement issued by UCADA. 

The area, where the helicopter crashed, is around 45 km from Badrinath shrine, while the distance to Dehradun by road from the shrine is 326 km. It takes around an hour to reach Dehradun from Badrinath by helicopter. 

UCADA CEO Prateek Jain told PTI that as a precautionary measure, the entire fleet of Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt. Ltd. has been grounded. 

SP Panwar said soon after receiving information about the disappearance, joint teams of the police, SDRF, and the Army from Pandukeshwar and Jyotirmath were dispatched to conduct a search and rescue operation. 

Additionally, drone teams were also deployed from the district headquarters in Gopeshwar to assist in the search. 

Soon after the crash, Dhami conducted a review meeting and directed officials to carry out relief and rescue operations on a war footing and to ensure the utilization of all available resources. 

The DEOC said an aerial reconnaissance of the incident site was conducted by one recce and one Retriever helicopter of UCADA and one team of SDRF was dispatched from Sahastradhara to the incident site. 

This year, over 21.55 lakh pilgrims have visited Badrinath since the shrine’s portals opened in April. A total of 87 pilgrims visiting Badrinath died this year. 

The Badrinath temple is among the “char dhams” in Uttarakhand. Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath are the other shrines that make up the Char Dham Yatra, a Hindu pilgrimage circuit in the Himalayas. 

Chopper services for the Char Dham shrines usually come in packages for covering two or all four shrines. The service costs around Rs 1 to 1.15 lakh per person for covering two shrines. In both the packages, Badrinath is the last destination after which the chopper returns to Dehradun. 

The government had informed Rajya Sabha in July last year that 12 accidents involving scheduled registered helicopters have occurred, killing 30 people during 2020-2025, with seven of them taking place in Uttarakhand. 

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol had said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has initiated additional surveillance and safety audits of helicopter operations for the Chardham Yatra. 

An analysis by 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 one accident or serious incident every year from 2022 onwards.

Last year, there were four accidents — two of them fatal — which was also the maximum number of accidents that occurred in a single year, AAIB said.