A helicopter carrying six pilgrims was forced to make an emergency landing in Uttarakhand's Kedarnath after developing technical snag in its rear motor. As per reports, a glitch in the helicopter's hydraulic system arose forcing it to spin uncontrollably before it was about to land at Kedarnath helipad. This prompted the pilot to make an emergency landing approximately 100 metres before the helipad.
According to the district disaster management officer of Rudraprayag, "A helicopter of Kestrel Aviation co took off from Sirsi helipad to Sh Kedarnath Dham carrying 6 passengers along with a pilot had to make an emergency landing approx 100 metres before the helipad of Sh Kedarnath Dham at around 7.05 hrs due to some technical problem."
As per media reports, Kalpesh, the pilot acted promptly under pressure and resorted to landing the helicopter in an open field just before the helipad. All the passengers were unharmed while the tail of the chopper suffered minor damage.
Rudraprayag District Magistrate Saurabh Gaharwar said the helicopter took off from the Sirsi helipad for Kedarnath early on Friday. " Everyone is safe and the pilgrims have even returned after having 'darshan' at the temple", he added.
The incident occurred around 7 am and further investigations are underway, Gaharwar said. The incident has been reported to the DGCA, and its team will now investigate.
