Helicopter crash leaves 2 pilots, engineer dead in Pune

Two pilots and an engineer were killed after a helicopter crashed in Maharashtra's Pune district shortly after it took off and caught fire on Oct 2 morning, officials said.

The incident took place around 6:45 am in mountainous terrain in the Bavdhan area after the helicopter took off from a helipad located at a golf course in the vicinity.

The pilots — Paramjit Singh and G K Pillai, and an engineer —Pritam Bharadwaj were killed in the crash. Shashikant Mahavarkar, Joint Commissioner of Police for Pimpri Chinchwad was quoted as saying the helicopter took off from Oxford Golf Club's helicopter at 7.30 am and crashed within minutes.

Police said dense fog in the area may have led to the crash that was heading to Juhu in Mumbai. Visuals from the crash site showed a massive wreckage and massive flames.

“When we reached the spot, we saw that the chopper had crashed and all its parts were scattered. There was a smoldering fire. We were able to retrieve three men, and they were handed over to the police,” Chief Fire Officer Devendra Prabhakar Potphode was quoted as saying.

According to preliminary information, the helicopter belonged to Heritage Aviation and was based in Pune. It had a registration number VT EVV, the police said.

The chopper was chartered by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and party chief Sunil Tatkare was supposed to visit Raigad in it. Pictures and videos of the incident on social media showed the helicopter on fire and massive smoke rising from it.

The police said that four fire tankers from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) are presently at the spot.

The exact cause of the crash is yet to be ascertained, according to officials. This is the second helicopter crash in recent times. In August, a private helicopter flying from Mumbai to Hyderabad crashed in Pune's Paud village. All four occupants survived the crash, though they suffered injuries.