Bhubaneswar: An air ambulance carrying seven persons on board crashed in a forested area of Jharkhand’s Chatra district on Monday evening while en route from Ranchi to Delhi, leaving one person dead.
The deceased has been identified as 41-year-old Sanjay Kumar, a burn patient who was being transported to Delhi for advanced medical treatment.
According to official sources, the aircraft was operating a medical evacuation (medevac) flight from Ranchi to Delhi. It took off from Ranchi at 7:11 pm and was expected to land in Delhi around 10 pm.
There were seven persons on board — the patient, a doctor, a paramedic, two attendants, the pilot-in-command (PIC) and a co-pilot.
Soon after departure, the aircraft established contact with Kolkata air traffic control. However, at around 7:34 pm, it lost communication and radar contact with Kolkata when it was approximately 100 nautical miles south-east of Varanasi. At the time, the aircraft was flying at flight level 140 (F140) and had requested to climb to flight level 180 (F180).
The crash occurred in a forested stretch of Chatra district. District administration officials said search and rescue teams rushed to the spot soon after information was received, and rescue operations are currently underway.
An investigation has been initiated into the incident. A team from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is being dispatched to the crash site to ascertain the cause of the accident.
