Helicopter carrying relief material crashes in Uttarkashi, 2 dead

Three people were killed as a helicopter carrying relief material for the victims of rain-affected areas of Uttarakhand crashed in Uttarkashi district on Wednesday, officials said.

The chopper belonged to Heritage Aviation and was being flown by Rajpal with co-pilot Kaptan Lal. A local involved in rescue operations -- Ramesh Sawar – was also on board, said Praveen Alok, media in charge, SDRF.

“All the three persons on-board the helicopter, have died in the crash. Their bodies have been recovered,” he added.

“The chopper involved in rescue works under state civil aviation department had flown from Dehradun with relief material for Arakot village in Uttarkashi as it is the base camp for ongoing rescue operations there. After dropping some relief material there, it was heading towards another affected village named Moldi when it got entangled in power lines and crashed,” said a state official on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to media.

The state administration has been operating 10 helipads in the affected areas with four choppers including one of Indian Air Force in the rescue operations after heavy rains lashed villages over the weekend.

Heavy rains have killed at least 15 people and destroyed property worth at least Rs 80-100 crore in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi, the worst-hit district in the state,in the past few days. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Tuesday visited the rain-ravaged Mori block

The torrential rains had hit about 12 villages including the worst affected Arakot, Makodi, Tikochi and Sanail villages in Uttarkashi, about 150km away from Dehradun on Sunday, damaging or washing away 20 houses. Several people were reported buried under their debris as rescue teams launched an effort to search for them. Uttarakhand is among the north Indian states that have been reeling under the impact of incessant rains causing damage to life and property.

Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are facing floods, landslides and waterlogging. Several tourists and a film crew were stranded in higher reaches of Himachal and had to be rescued. In Delhi, Yamuna is flowing above danger mark forcing evacuation of people living along the banks of the river.