Ranchi: All seven people on board an air ambulance flying from Ranchi to Delhi were killed after the aircraft crashed in Jharkhand’s Chatra district on Monday night, officials confirmed, revising earlier reports that had suggested a single fatality.
Chatra Deputy Commissioner Keerthishree G said the crash occurred near Simaria and none of the occupants survived. “All seven people on board the air ambulance were killed in the crash,” she told PTI. The bodies have since been recovered from the crash site.
Victims Identified
The victims have been identified as Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat, the pilot-in-command, and Captain Savrajdeep Singh, the co-pilot. The remaining five included Sanjay Kumar (41), the patient being airlifted; his attendants Archana Devi and Dhuru Kumar; Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta; and paramedic Sachin Kumar Mishra. Sub-Divisional Police Officer Shubham Khandelwal confirmed that all bodies were retrieved.
The aircraft, a Beechcraft C90 registered as VT-AJV, was operated by Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd and was on a medical evacuation mission. It took off from Ranchi at 7:11 pm and was scheduled to land in Delhi around 10 pm. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the aircraft lost communication and radar contact with Kolkata at around 7:34 pm, roughly 100 nautical miles south-east of Varanasi.
Sanjay Kumar, the patient on board, was a resident of Chandwa in Jharkhand’s Latehar district and had sustained 65 per cent burn injuries. Dr Anant Sinha, chief plastic surgeon at Devnika Hospital in Ranchi told India Today that Kumar was admitted to Devkamal Hospital on February 16 in a critical condition. His family decided to shift him to Delhi for advanced treatment, following which he was discharged around 4.30 pm on Monday and taken to the airport for the air ambulance transfer.
Following the crash, a team from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has been dispatched to probe the cause of the accident. Authorities said further details will emerge after the preliminary investigation into possible technical or operational factors behind the crash.
