India helicopter crash in Himalayas kills 6

A helicopter carrying six people from a Hindu holy town crashed in the Indian Himalayas on Friday, killing everyone on board, officials said.

Five passengers and one pilot were killed when the chopper came down near a valley in Joshimath during the flight from Badrinath in the northern state of Uttarakhand, according to state police.

“Efforts are currently underway to transport the bodies from the inaccessible crash site to the nearest road,” police said in a statement.

Authorities did not say what caused the crash.

India’s weather department had predicted “widespread” rainfall in the state on Friday, just two days after Cyclone Arnab made landfall along India’s southeastern coast.

Uttarakhand is home to several Hindu pilgrimage sites, including Badrinath, which has a sacred temple dedicated to Hindu god Vishnu and attracts millions of pilgrims every year.

Helicopter charter firms serve wealthy pilgrims who want to visit mountainous shrines while avoiding arduous trekking.

In June last year, at least seven pilgrims were killed in a helicopter crash near Kedarnath, a Hindu pilgrimage site.

The same month, 260 people were killed when a passenger plane slammed into a residential area in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.