By Our Staff Reporter
Rudraprayag, 2 Oct: Sudden bad weather today forced a helicopter flying pilgrims to Kedarnath to make an emergency landing at Garudchatti. All the passengers and the pilot are reported to be safe, and the chopper landed without any damage. The helicopter in question belongs to Trans Bharat Aviation.
Some independent sources claim that the chopper had taken off from Guptkashi despite the fact that the weather was reportedly cloudy with dense fog. It may be recalled that weather in Kedarnath Valley is known to change suddenly. Sources report that it was a foggy day in the valley and, in spite of this, the chopper belonging to Trans Bharat Company took off for Kedarnath shrine from Guptkashi with the pilgrims. However, after the chopper took off, weather worsened even further, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing as a precautionary measure at Garudchatti which is an old pilgrimage route to Kedarnath but is not much in use after the Kedarnath tragedy. The helicopter was carrying 5 passengers besides the pilot.
According to official sources however, the weather was not particularly bad when the helicopter of Trans Bharat Aviation took off from Guptkashi for Kedarnath Dham. The officials claimed that, just as the helicopter was reaching Kedarnath shrine, the fog spread from Rambada to Kedarnath and the visibility turned very poor. The pilot decided to make an emergency landing helicopter near Garudachatti on the old pilgrimage route. Here the concrete road, though meant for walking only, is quite wide making it safe for a chopper to land.
It may be recalled that last year, also, during the last leg of the Char Dham Yatra, a helicopter of Aryan Aviation had crashed in Garudchatti while returning from Kedarnath to Guptkashi. In this accident, 7 passengers including the pilot died on the spot.
District Disaster Management Officer, Rudraprayag, Nandan Singh Rajwar stated that the Kedarnath valley suddenly got packed with dense fog and the clouds in the day.
