Dehradun: With 4th Chopper Crash in 30 days relating to ambitious Char Dham Yatra by helicopter in utmost all round comfort, relaxation, leisure et al, it is now becoming clearer that the whole helicopter yatra is sheer bad omen not at all liked by the super powers that are omnipotent, omniscient, ubiquitous 24x7. Amid absolutely clear environment, soon after take off from Sirsi helipad, the chopper confidently, smartly began crossing Phata, Guptkashi to take the chopper-riders or the pilgrims to Kedarnath. The helicopter belonged to a private firm. It suddenly crash landed at Badasu area of Rudraprayag district today morning, Saturday.
In a span of a month, this is the fourth crash of a helicopter related to CharDham Yatra. The helicopter had smartly taken off fluently with five pilgrims to Kedarnath from Sirsi helipad. While landing, gratuitously, the tail of the chopper broke off without giving any prior signal.
The authorities maintain that no one has been injured in this incident.
An official communication from the state government mentions: "The CEO of UCADA has informed that a helicopter made a precautionary landing on the road, instead of the helipad, while taking off with passengers from Sirsi. There are no reports of any casualties. The DGCA has been notified, and the rest of the shuttle operations are proceeding as scheduled."
A chopper crashed near Gangotri, leading to six deaths on May 8. An incident was averted when a chopper blade hit a vehicle at the Badrinath helipad on May 12. An air ambulance crashed in the Kedarnath area as its tail hit the ground while landing near the helipad around 11.50am on May 17 and no casualties were reported and all three persons --- the pilot, a doctor, and, nursing staff --- were safe.
From these near-inescapable macabre catastrophe, it is very clear that "not all are OK with helicopter yatra to...you know what".
