Six killed as helicopter from Badrinath crashes near Joshimath in Uttarakhand

All six people on board a private helicopter were killed when it crashed near Joshimath in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Friday afternoon, October 30, shortly after leaving Badrinath for Dehradun.

The helicopter, operated by Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt Ltd, was carrying a pilot and five male passengers, all from Bengaluru, according to The Week and National Herald. One of the passengers was a police inspector from Bengaluru, The Week reported. The Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) said it had grounded the operator's entire fleet as a precaution.

What happened

According to a UCADA statement quoted by The Week, the helicopter took off from Badrinath at about 1:15 pm IST, bound for the Sahastradhara heliport in Dehradun. It lost communication and disappeared from tracking while flying over the Joshimath valley. National Herald, citing PTI, put the take-off at 1:14 pm and said the helicopter came down at around 2:20 pm on a hillside near Marwari Bridge and the J.P. Power House in Joshimath.

Officials received word of the crash from the Joshimath sub-divisional magistrate at about 2:21 pm, Curly Tales reported. The district administration, police, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police were sent to the site.

Chamoli Superintendent of Police Surjit Singh Panwar said in the evening that the bodies had been located but not yet recovered, National Herald reported. A later report by The Week said all six bodies had been recovered.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said he was monitoring the situation and that a joint rescue operation was under way, according to National Herald.

Cause not yet known

Officials have not said what caused the crash. National Herald reported that it happened in bad weather. The India Meteorological Department had issued an orange alert for Chamoli for Friday, warning of thunderstorms, lightning, hail and gusty winds of 40-50 kmph in places, with rain and snow likely along the Badrinath-Joshimath route. Investigators have yet to establish whether weather or a technical fault was responsible.

The Week said investigations were under way. No statement from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation or the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on this crash had been reported by late Friday.

Background

Helicopters carry thousands of pilgrims every season to the Char Dham shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri, flying through narrow valleys where the weather can change quickly.

The service has a troubled safety record. The Week cited an AAIB analysis of the Char Dham sector that counted nine occurrences between 2015 and 2025, eight accidents and one serious incident, with at least one every year since 2022.

On June 15, 2025, a helicopter flying from Kedarnath to Guptkashi crashed in poor visibility, killing all seven people on board, The Tribune reported at the time. Six people had died in a crash in Uttarkashi district in May 2025 on a flight to Gangotri. After the June crash, Mr Dhami ordered a standard operating procedure for helicopter services, with mandatory technical and weather checks before flights.

What happens next

Trans Bharat Aviation's helicopters will remain grounded while the cause is examined. Officials have not said whether other operators' flights on the Badrinath route will be affected.