Ranchi, Jharkhand — Seven People lost their lives when an air ambulance crashed. One of those was a well-known hotel owner of the area. The tragedy happened after the aircraft went down in a dense forest area of Jharkhand on Tuesday morning. The incident deeply shocked the state and the first topic of discussion was the question of safety in the air with regard to medical evacuation flights.
The doomed air ambulance was a chartered helicopter of a private airline company. It left a local airstrip very early in the morning in conditions that were apparently foggy. Officials revealed that the helicopter was carrying the hotel owner, Sanjay Kumar Shaw, a famous hospitality businessman of Ranchi, along with two medical staff, two pilots, and two attendants. It lost communication with the control tower about 40 minutes after departure.
Rescue teams were sent out once the signal was lost; however, the very thick forested area of the Saranda division made the recovery operations very difficult. After several hours of on-ground and aerial searches, the rescue team finally reached the aircraft wreckage in the forest. The investigation showed that the plane had come in contact with the top of the trees before hitting the ground. The whole crew died in the accident.
Eyewitnesses from nearby villages said that they heard a loud explosion and saw a column of smoke rising above the treetops. Village locals escorted the rescue teams to the crash site before the arrival of official emergency services.
Sanjay, who was the proprietor of a chain of hotels in Jharkhand and Odisha, was reportedly being taken to a specialty hospital in a different city after a serious cardiac episode. Officials informed his family, who were at the hospital waiting for him, about the accident and they are said to be grieving deeply.
The Chief Minister of Jharkhand offered condolences to the families who had lost their loved ones and promised a magisterial inquiry into the cause of the accident. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is also carrying out a technical investigation separately, and the first things to be looked at are the weather conditions, the aircraft maintenance records, and checking if the proper clearances were obtained for the flight.
Aviation Experts have highlighted that private air ambulance operations are not strictly monitored in India, especially in the remote and hilly states where these services are more and more in demand but the regulations are the weakest. This is one of the concerns being raised.
The remains of all seven victims were found and the bodies were handed to their families. A deep sorrow has fallen on Ranchi’s business community, which had known Sanjay as an enterprising businessman and charity work enthusiast.
