Pune chopper crash: ‘When we reached the site, we could hear the cellphones of the crash victims ringing’

* “When we reached the spot, we could hear the cellphones of the crash victims ringing.”

As a helicopter crashed in dense fog in a valley between two hill faces in Bavdhan on Wednesday morning, killing three crew members, these were some accounts of locals, who feared something terrible had happened although they were several metres away from the crash site and could not see anything because of the thick veil of mist.

The incident took place around 7 am when the Augusta 109 VT-EVV helicopter operated by New Delhi-headquartered Heritage Aviation had taken off from the helipad of the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune. The helicopter had taken off from Bavdhan for Mumbai, from where it was to fly state NCP president Sunil Tatkare to Raigad.

Vaman Padghan, who works as a contract labourer for a caterer providing service for an event management company operating from a premises next to the Oxford golf course, was with his wife doing morning chores when he heard the chopper take off from the helipad located close to their accommodation.

“My wife and I could hear the helicopter take off and fly over us. When helicopters take off from here, we can hear them for a long time. But this time, just a few minutes after, the sound just stopped after a thud that we heard in the distance. I had a feeling something bad had happened. Minutes later, a security guard came shouting ‘helicopter gir gaya, helicopter gir gaya’ (helicopter crashed, helicopter crashed). Later when the fog cleared we could see black smoke coming from a point in the valley. And people and fire brigade personnel had gathered there,” said Padghan.

Mauli Jadhav, who hails from Hingoli and works as a driver of a dumper truck on a nearby construction site, said, “There was dense fog. Just a few minutes past 7 am I heard loud sounds of metal crunching accompanied by a loud thud. We have seen helicopters flying here and we knew something bad must have happened. Ten-fifteen of us decided to climb up the rocky terrain to see if those aboard needed any help. On the way, some people who were on their morning walks joined us. We reached there in 20 minutes.”

“When we reached the spot, parts of the helicopter were scattered all over. Some of the parts had caught fire and some had not. Minutes after we reached the site, we could hear their mobile phones ringing one after the other. While we were walking to the location, the morning walkers who accompanied us had informed the police and other authorities. As we reached the helicopter, we could see two persons lying unresponsive. A while later we saw the third person lying unconscious. They all had severe injuries,” he further said.

Senior inspector Kanhaiyya Thorat, in-charge of the Hinjewadi police station, said, “In the initial examination of the crash site, the phones of the deceased persons were spotted. They have been recovered as part of the panchnama of the site.”