Seven individuals, including a toddler, tragically lost their lives on Sunday in India when a helicopter transporting Hindu pilgrims from a shrine crashed in the Himalayas, officials confirmed.
This fatal accident occurs as relatives are still mourning at least 279 people who were killed when a passenger plane slammed into a residential area in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Nandan Singh Rajwar, a disaster response official, informed AFP that the helicopter crash resulted in the deaths of the pilot and all six passengers when their chopper went down during a flight from Kedarnath temple, located in Uttarakhand state.
The state’s chief minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, stated that rescue teams had been dispatched to the scene following the “very sad news.”
According to district tourism official Rahul Chaubey, the crash was likely caused by adverse weather conditions. Pilgrims flock to Kedarnath temple during the summer months when the site, which stands at an altitude of 3,584 meters (11,759 feet), is accessible.
A cottage industry of helicopter charter firms has emerged to cater to affluent pilgrims who wish to visit shrines in the Indian Himalayas but prefer to avoid arduous trekking. It is noteworthy that six people were killed last month in another helicopter crash en route to the same shrine.
