An air ambulance crashed in Jharkhand, India, killing all seven people on board, including the patient, doctors, and crew members. The aircraft, which had taken off from Ranchi en route to Delhi with a patient, is suspected to have crashed due to a technical malfunction.
According to Ranchi Airport Director Vinod Kumar, the crash occurred near Simaria. Those on board included Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat, Captain Swaraajdeep Singh, patient Sanjay Kumar (41), his wife Archana Devi, assistant Dhuru Kumar, Dr. Vikas Kumar Gupta, and paramedical staff member Sachin Kumar Mishra.
Anant Sinha, CEO of Devkamal Hospital in Ranchi, said that Sanjay Kumar, who had suffered 65 percent burn injuries, was being flown to Delhi for advanced treatment. The aircraft took off at around 7:10 p.m. (Indian time) on Monday, and contact with Kolkata Air Traffic Control was lost at 7:34 p.m., after which the search and rescue coordination center was activated.
Local residents informed authorities that the aircraft had crashed in a dense forest area of Simaria. Police and rescue teams reached the site after villagers first located the crash site using mobile phone flashlights.
This marks the second chartered aircraft crash in India within a month. In the previous incident last month, Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar reportedly lost his life.
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