Ranchi: All seven people on board an air ambulance that crashed in Jharkhand’s Chatra district were killed, officials confirmed on Tuesday.
The medical charter flight, en route from Ranchi to Delhi, crashed in Kasaria Panchayat, Chatra District, on Monday evening. There were seven individuals on board, including two crew members.
The deceased have been identified as Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat, Captain Savrajdeep Singh, Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta, Sachin Kumar Mishra, Sanjay Kumar, Archana Devi and Dhuru Kumar.
The aircraft was a Beechcraft King Air (BE9L) medical charter flight operated by Redbird Airways, a Delhi-based airline.
Relatives of one of the victims said that Sanjay, a resident of Chandwa in Latehar district, had suffered severe burn injuries and was being shifted to Delhi for advanced treatment.
He had sustained around 65 per cent burns, and his family decided to arrange an air ambulance after doctors indicated that treatment in Latehar was not sufficient. Sanjay’s wife and his cousin accompanied him on the ill-fated flight, and both were among those killed.
Vijay, Sanjay’s elder brother, said, “His condition had worsened significantly, so we were taking him to Delhi for treatment by air ambulance. His wife and our cousin were with him.”
Sanjay’s uncle also recounted the sequence of events, saying, “My nephew, Sanjay, was injured in a fire and was admitted to a hospital in Ranchi. His condition did not improve there, so we arranged an air ambulance to take him to Delhi for treatment. At around 7 p.m., we booked the air ambulance, and then Sanjay, his wife and his cousin boarded the flight to Delhi. We are not sure how this could have happened.”
Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta was also on board the aircraft. His uncle, Bajrangi Prasad, expressed grief over the loss.
“He had completed his MBBS and used to help his father. He used to tell us, ‘Uncle, the time has come to relax’. Today he passed away, and we are now out on the roads. What should we do? We have rightful demands from our government,” he said.
Superintendent of Sadar Hospital, Pankaj Kumar, told IANS, “We received information about an air ambulance crash, so we went to the site. When we reached there, all the people on board were found dead. The procedure to establish the identity of the deceased is underway.”
Eyewitnesses described hearing a loud explosion at the time of the crash.
“We were at our homes when suddenly, there was a loud explosion-like sound. We thought a plane must have crashed. When we rushed to the site, we saw the aircraft had fallen, and probably seven people on board had died,” a local resident said.
Another eyewitness said, “When we heard the explosion, we came out of our houses, but we did not see anything. Then we headed towards the forest to see what had happened. After a while, we saw the wreckage of the air ambulance and called the authorities.”
According to flight details, the aircraft took off from Ranchi at 7:07 p.m. and became airborne at 7:11 p.m. After establishing contact with Kolkata Air Traffic Control, it lost communication and radar contact at around 7:34 p.m., approximately 100 nautical miles southeast of Varanasi.
The loss of contact reportedly occurred near Palamu in northwestern Jharkhand. The flight was scheduled to land in Delhi at 10 p.m.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the crash, while further details are awaited.
(IANS)
