Helicopter makes emergency landing near Kedarnath shrine
District disaster management officer (Rudraprayag) NS Rajwar said the helicopter left the Guptkashi helipad at 2.06pm but could not land due to poor visibility
A helicopter with five pilgrims on board made an emergency landing nearly 100 meters from the Kedarnath shrine helipad on Monday amid fog.
District disaster management officer (Rudraprayag) NS Rajwar said the helicopter left the Guptkashi helipad at 2.06pm but could not land at the helipad due to poor visibility. “So the pilot showing his presence of mind made a safe landing near Garud Chatti and saved the lives of the five.”
Anand Shukla, a temple priest at the Kedarnath Dham, said most helicopter accidents in the region have taken place due to poor visibility and the administration should prohibit chopper operations after 2pm.
Rajwar said they have asked the nine chopper operators running the helicopter services to Kedarnath to take utmost care while operating the services and avoid operations after 2pm.
In April, a Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) official was killed after a helicopter tail rotor hit him in Kedarnath while he boarding the chopper after an inspection of the helipad
The state government has said it will monitor the helicopter services being operated for Kedarnath this season for which nine CCTV cameras will be installed around each helipad from Guptkashi to Kedarnath.
Seven devotees were killed when a chopper crashed in Kedarnath in October last year, prompting UCADA to write to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to set up an air traffic control system in the area. During the yatra period, on average choppers make 400 sorties in the Kedarnath area daily.
