The incident occurs days after an Air India plane crashed in the western city of Ahmedabad, killing everyone but one of the 242 on board.
Seven people, including a small child, have been killed in the state of Northern Uttarakhand of India when a helicopter that transported them by a Hindu pilgrimage crashed into the Himalayas, authorities say.
Officials of the Civil Aviation Development Authority of Uttarakhand told journalists that the Chopper Tok faces at 5:30 am (00:00 GMT) on Sunday from the city of the Kedarnath temple for Guptkashi, a city about 37 miles away.
The deceased has identified the leg as the pilot, Captain Rajveer Singh Chauhan, and Vikram Rawwat passengers, Vinod Devi, Trishti Singh, Rajkumar Jaiswal, his wife Shraddha Jaisi, Kashter, Kashter.
The bodies were very burned in a fire that followed the accident, authorities said.
The disaster force of the state of Uttarakhand told Ani news agency that the accident site is in a remote and dense forest area, adding that the rescue operation is ongoing with the local police.
#Look | Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand: Today, a helicopter that operates a flight in the Shri Kedarnath sector to Guptkashi was involved in an accident. A total of 07 people were aboard this helicopter, which died on the spot. The rescue teams were sent immediately under the direction … pic.twitter.com/dfsa7glmri
– ANI (@ani) June 15, 2025
The authorities said it was believed that the accident had the leg caused by bad climatic conditions.
In a publication about X, the Prime Minister of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami, described the “very sad” incident.
Kedarnath, standing at an altitude of 3,584 meters (11,759 feet), is the home of one of the four most sacred Hindu temple sanctuaries and receives tens of thousands of pilgrims every year during the season.
To avoid the arduous trekking in the mountainous field, the accumulated pilgrims of use of helicopter charter services. But mishaps are common in the treacherous region, where sudden climatic changes and large altitude flight conditions can represent risks.
On June 7, a helicopter that operates in the Kedarnath Valley made an emergency landing on a road due to a technical failure shortly after taking off. The pilot was injured, but the five passengers on board were not damaged.
Last month, a helicopter crashed in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, killing six people, including the pilot. A person survived.
Indian media reports said Sunday’s accident was the fifth incident of this type in less than two months. It also produces only days after an Air India plane crashed in the city of Ahmedabad, killing all but one of the 242 passengers on board and boxes of others on the ground.
