Six people, including a pilot, were killed when a helicopter operated by private aviation company Trans Bharat Aviation crashed in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Friday afternoon while carrying passengers from the temple town of Badrinath, officials said.

The wreckage was located near Chayi village in the Joshimath area following a search operation launched after the helicopter lost contact with authorities. The bodies of all six occupants were recovered from the crash site.

The five passengers were from Karnataka and were identified as Arun Salunke, HS Natraj, Prathapa Ningarajan, Sudeer K and Shankargowda VB. Salunke was a police inspector with the Bengaluru Police Crime Branch. Further details about the other passengers were not immediately available.

The pilot, Himanshu Sabharwal, was from Delhi.

According to the District Disaster Management Officer, an Army team from the 9 Independent Mountain Brigade reached the site at around 3.30 pm and confirmed that everyone aboard had died.

Helicopter lost contact over Joshimath valley

The helicopter reportedly stopped communicating at around 1.30 pm while flying over the Joshimath valley. Its tracking system also ceased transmitting, triggering efforts to locate the aircraft.

Reports of the crash emerged around 2.20 pm. Two additional helicopters and drones were deployed during the search, alongside personnel from the Indian Army, the Chamoli district administration and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).

Police Sub-Inspector Manohar Kanyal said officials from the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) had located the wreckage near an Army camp above Chayi village.

The cause of the crash remains unknown. The area had been experiencing heavy rainfall and extensive cloud cover, while snowfall was reported in some locations. However, UCADA chief executive officer Prateek Jain said the helicopter had been cleared to fly after weather conditions were assessed as favourable.

As a precaution, officials ordered the grounding of the entire Trans Bharat Aviation fleet pending further action.

Dhami orders coordinated rescue response

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami confirmed the crash and said the district administration, Disaster Management Department and SDRF had launched a joint response.

In a post on X, Dhami expressed concern over the incident and said rescue teams were working at the site. He also monitored the situation as officials coordinated the emergency response.

The Chief Minister’s Office said Dhami and Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Minister Madan Kaushik had taken immediate cognisance of the crash. The Disaster Management Secretary was directed to ensure that relief and rescue efforts began without delay.

Officials initially prepared to arrange air evacuation for any seriously injured occupants. However, authorities later confirmed that all six people aboard had died at the site.

Fresh concerns after earlier helicopter emergencies

The crash comes amid two emergency landings involving helicopters operating on Uttarakhand’s Char Dham routes earlier in October.

One aircraft had to land in Rudraprayag because of unfavourable weather, while another made an emergency landing in Tehri following a technical problem.

The latest incident is likely to renew scrutiny of helicopter operations in the Himalayan region, where rapidly changing weather and challenging terrain can complicate flights. Investigators are yet to establish what caused Friday’s crash.