Dehradun, Nov 3 The Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) Tuesday said it is considering to rope in professional mountaineers to reach the helicopter crash site in Joshimath to help in the investigation.
The investigators are trying to find the camera placed in the helicopter to understand the cause of the accident, in which the pilot and five pilgrims from Karnataka were killed while returning from Badrinath shrine.
Officials said a team from Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) could not reach the crash site near Chai village in Joshimath and had to return on Monday evening.
An official from AAIB, while returning from the inspection of the helicopter crash site, suddenly fell ill and was brought to Pandukeshwar by police and SDRF personnel on their shoulders.
On Monday, another team of five persons from UCADA was also sent to Joshimath to help during the investigation, but this team also had to return.
“Now we’re thinking to engage some heavy-duty mountaineers with proper mountaineering equipment who will be able to reach the site and find evidence. Due to lack of skills, it is getting difficult for both AAIB team and UCADA officials to reach the crash site,” UCADA CEO Prateek Jain told PTI.
“Reaching the site is crucial for the investigation, so now alternative options will be explored,” he said.
Officials said that the place where the helicopter crashed has a cliff with steep slope, making it difficult for the existing team to reach.
Senior officials from UCADA further said that in the investigation so far, other pilots who flew on the same route before the chopper that crashed, did not report any adverse weather conditions and neither did they receive any ‘may day’ signal from the pilot of the ill-fated chopper.
“The pilot who flew before and the pilot who flew after the chopper that crashed, they have shared that the cloud line was above the ridge line and they could clearly see the ground, the weather was not clear but visibility was fine and they did not receive any may day call.
“One of the pilots who was flying from Badrinath to Dehradun, when this (the chopper that crashed) pilot was flying from Dehradun to Badrinath; they saw each other and everything was alright then,” said a senior official.
The official said that there is “no conclusive proof yet” whether the helicopter was hit by any object or bird.
“We believe that the videos being shared on social media before the chopper crashed could be fake or of some other date. The investigators are checking all aspects and trying to find out the camera placed inside the chopper,” added the official.
Officials further said that no permission was sought for operating a drone in the valley on October 30, so “it could be unlikely that the chopper was hit by a drone, but it is still under the ambit of investigation”.
(PTI News)
