Pilot, five pilgrims killed as helicopter returning from Badrinath crashes

A civilian helicopter carrying six people, including a pilot, crashed near Hathi Parvat in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Friday afternoon, resulting in the deaths of all six individuals. The helicopter was returning from Shri Badrinath Dham towards the Sahastradhara helipad in Dehradun when it crashed near Sthan Marwadi, close to Hathi Parvat in Joshimath tehsil, at around 2 pm.

The deceased have been identified as Arun Salunke, a police inspector with the technical cell of the Bengaluru CCB; Prathapa Bachihally Ningaraju, a businessman from Hassan with links to the Congress; advocates Sudheer K and Shankargowda VB; and H S Nataraj from Tumakuru. The incident occurred amid adverse weather conditions in the region, with an orange alert issued by the India Meteorological Department for thunderstorms, lightning, hail, and gusty winds of 40-50 kmph in isolated areas. The precise circumstances that led to the crash are under investigation.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Indian Express - India's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.