Rudraprayag | June 16 – In a tragic incident early Sunday morning, all seven people aboard a helicopter flying from Kedarnath to Guptkashi were killed after the aircraft crashed near Gaurikund in Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag district.
The chopper, operated by Aryan Aviation, had taken off from the Kedarnath helipad around 5:20 a.m. but lost signal shortly thereafter. It was later found to have crashed in a forested area near Gaurikund after reportedly encountering sudden adverse weather conditions.
Inspector Anirudh Bhandari of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) confirmed, “All seven people on board the chopper are dead.”
District tourism officer Rahul Chaubey, who also serves as the nodal officer for helicopter services in the region, said, “We received information about the missing helicopter early this morning. A search operation was launched immediately. The helicopter was returning from Kedarnath Dham when it ran into poor weather. The pilot tried to navigate through the valley but the aircraft crashed during the attempt.”
Locals near Gaurikund reported seeing smoke rising from the crash site, helping authorities locate the wreckage.
Among the deceased were Captain Rajveer Singh Chauhan (pilot), Rajkumar Suresh Jaiswal (41), Shradha Rajkumar Jaiswal (35), and their infant Kashi (23 months), all residents of Maharashtra; Vikram (46) from Rudraprayag; and Vinod Dev (66) and Tusti Singh (29) from Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh.
This marks the fifth helicopter-related incident on the Char Dham pilgrimage route in less than 40 days. On June 7, another helicopter carrying five pilgrims crash-landed near Barasu on the Guptkashi-Gaurikund highway. While no fatalities occurred in that incident, the pilot sustained minor injuries.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed his condolences on social media. “Very sad news has been received about a helicopter crash in Rudraprayag district. SDRF, local administration and other rescue teams are engaged in relief and rescue operations. I pray to Baba Kedar for the safety of all the travellers,” he said.
The crash comes amid ongoing concerns over aviation safety in pilgrimage zones, further intensified by a separate air tragedy just days ago, when an Air India flight crashed in Ahmedabad, killing 270 people, including nearly all passengers and several people on the ground.
