Helicopter services to Kedarnath Dham will resume on Tuesday, June 17, 20205, a day after they were suspended following a deadly crash. “Helicopter services for Kedarnath Dham will be resumed from Tuesday,” said Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority Chief Executive Officer Sonika, as quoted by ANI.
The suspension was ordered on Sunday after an Aryan Aviation helicopter crashed while flying from Kedarnath to Guptkashi. The crash occurred around 5.30 am in a forested area near Gaurikund in Rudraprayag district. All seven people on board, including the pilot, were killed.
The victims were identified as Captain Rajbir Singh Chauhan, 39, Vikram Rawat, 47, Vinod Devi, 66, a representative of the Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee, Trishti Singh, 19, Rajkumar Suresh Jaiswal, 41, his wife Shraddha Jaiswal and their two-year-old daughter Kashi Jaiswal.
In response to the tragedy, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami called an emergency meeting with aviation officials. He directed all aviation companies to strictly follow safety guidelines issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. According to the reports, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said helicopter operations to Char Dham shrines would be scaled down as a precaution. The agency also announced an investigation into the crash through the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.