Six devotees flying to Kedarnath had a narrow escape on Friday morning when the helicopter they were aboard developed a serious technical snag, forcing an emergency landing on a hilltop ahead of the Kedarnath helipad. Devotees onboard the helicopter were successfully rescued and later safely transported to the Kedarnath temple. This incident comes amid a grim backdrop as the death toll in the Chardham pilgrimage this year has reached 52 in nearly a fortnight.

Officials from the Rudraprayag district administration informed that the ill-fated helicopter, belonging to Crystal Aviation company, took off from the Shersi helipad, nearly 25 kilometres from Kedarpuri. The helicopter was carrying a group of six devotees when it started juddering midway through the journey, leading to the machine’s whirling movements in the air. This forced the pilot to make an emergency landing ahead of the Kedarnath helipad.

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Confirming the incident, Rudraprayag District Magistrate Saurav Gaharwar said that all the six devotees aboard were safe. He said, “We were informed by the District Disaster Management Officer in the morning that the helicopter belonging to Crystal Aviation, carrying pilgrims, took off from the Shersi helipad for Kedarnath but had to make an emergency landing ahead of Kedarnath due to some technical fault in the machine. Preliminary probe indicates a snag in the rear rotor of the helicopter, while further investigation is going on.” Gaharwar also praised the pilot’s deftness and wisdom, which resulted in a safe emergency landing, averting a major accident.

“The helicopter carried six devotees from Tamil Nadu. All of them were reported safe and later flown to the Kedarnath shrine for darshan,” stated Vinay Shankar Pandey, the Garhwal Commissioner and secretary to the Chief Minister. He shared that the death toll of Chardham-bound pilgrims reached 52 on Friday, the 14th day of the pilgrimage in 2024.

Speaking to the media on Friday, Pandey informed that most of the deaths were due to cardiac arrest in Uttarakhand. Of these, the highest number of 23 deaths took place at Kedarnath, followed by 14 in Badrinath, and 12 in Yamunotri. Three pilgrims died in the Gangotri shrine area. According to Pandey, a majority of the casualties were attributed to heart attacks.