A private helicopter carrying spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar, three passengers and two crew members, made an emergency landing on Wednesday morning in Ukkiniyam tribal hamlet in the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) in Erode district due to inclement weather. Ravishankar, who is the founder of Art of Living Foundation, was on his way from Bengaluru to Tiruppur to attend an event. The chopper made an emergency landing at the Government Primary School premises in Ukkiniyam village in Kadambur hills in the STR at around 9.45 am after it couldn’t proceed towards its destination due to bad weather.
The officer said the chopper had four passengers and two crew members. Sri Sri Ravishankar and three of his staff members were the passengers. “The spiritual guru interacted with people who gathered at the school premises after hearing the sound of an helicopter. He is frequently referred to as Sri Sri (honorific), Guru ji, or Gurudev. From around the mid 1970s, he worked as an apprentice under Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation. In 1981, he split from the Transcendental Meditation (TM) and founded the Art of Living foundation.