Helicopter carrying six crashes near Joshimath, rescue teams deployed

UPDATE - follow-up to Chopper with six on board crashes near Uttarakhand's Joshimath: A six‑person helicopter went down near Joshimath on Friday afternoon and rescue teams are combing the hillside for survivors. The aircraft, operated by Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt. Ltd., took off from Badrinath around 1.15 p.m. and lost contact at about 2.20 p.m. over the Joshimath valley. Six occupants were on board – pilot Capt Himanshu and passengers Prathapa, Arun, Shankar Gowda, Sudheer K and H S Natraja – all reported to be from Bengaluru. No official casualty figure has been confirmed yet. The crash site is near the JP Power House close to Marwari Bridge. Teams from the district administration, police, State Disaster Response Force, army units and the Indo‑Tibetan Border Police have been sent to the area for relief and rescue. The Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority said the helicopter’s call sign was VT‑HCX and that its tracking system stopped working when it vanished. UCADA chief Prateek Jain announced that the entire Trans Bharat Aviation fleet has been grounded as a safety precaution. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami posted on X that he is monitoring the situation and has ordered critical injuries to be air‑lifted to a higher‑level medical centre. ## Context The incident highlights the challenges of flying in mountainous terrain during poor weather and underscores the importance of rapid rescue coordination in the region.