Ranchi: An air ambulance carrying seven people, including a critically injured burn patient, crashed in a forested area of Jharkhand’s Chatra district on Monday night, killing all on board, officials said.
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the Beechcraft C90 aircraft, operated by Delhi-based Redbird Airways, had taken off from Birsa Munda Airport at 7:11 pm while transporting a burn patient from Ranchi to New Delhi.
The aircraft established contact with Kolkata at 7:34 pm but subsequently lost communication and radar contact about 100 nautical miles southeast of Varanasi. It later went down in dense forest near Simaria in Chatra district.
Chatra Deputy Commissioner Keerthishree G told a news agency that the exact number of casualties could not be immediately confirmed as the crash site was located deep inside forested terrain.
Those on board included 41-year-old burn victim Sanjay Kumar, who had suffered 63 per cent injuries and was being shifted from Devkamal Hospital and Research Centre in Ranchi.
Others included Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta, paramedic Sachin Kumar Mishra, attendants Archana Devi and Dhuru Kumar, and two pilots — Vivek Vikas Bhagat and Savrajdeep Singh.
Ranchi airport director Vinod Kumar said inclement weather could be a possible factor, though the exact cause will be known only after a detailed investigation.
Redbird Airways, owned by Akshay Yadav, was established in 2018 and received its non-scheduled operator permit in 2019. The airline operates a small fleet of six aircraft, including the one involved in Monday’s crash.
The incident has renewed scrutiny of India’s charter aviation sector. The aviation regulator had earlier announced special audits of non-scheduled operators, though the findings have not yet been made public.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and former Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren expressed grief over the incident in a social media post and prayed for the victims and strength for their families.
Rescue and investigation teams have been rushed to the crash site.