Passenger's Take-Off Selfie Video Before Deadly Chopper Crash In Uttarakhand

A selfie video recorded by one of the passengers has surfaced hours after a helicopter crash in Uttarakhand killed all six people on board this afternoon. Pratap Bachihalli Ningaraju, 41, was seen smiling in the video as the helicopter prepared to take off from the Badrinath helipad for Dehradun.

Ningaraju and four other passengers, Arun Salunkhe, Sudhir K, HS Nataraj, Shankargowda VB, as well as the helicopter's pilot, Himanshu Sabharwal, were killed in the crash. All passengers were from Bengaluru, while Sabharwal was a Delhi resident.

Operated by M/S Trans Bharat Aviation Pvt Ltd, the helicopter took off around 1:14 pm amid snowfall and lost contact near the Hathi Parvat area. It eventually crashed into a hillside near Chai village in Joshimath around 2:20 pm, officials said.

India's aviation regulator has dispatched a team to Dehradun to conduct a preliminary assessment of the accident.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has expressed sorrow over the loss of lives and offered condolences to the bereaved families. He has also directed the concerned officials to conduct a detailed investigation into the cause of the accident.

Friday's crash adds to 12 similar tragedies involving helicopters in Uttarakhand in the last 10 years. At least 27 people have died in six of the 13 helicopter crashes between 2016 and 2026, while the seven other crashes were non-fatal.