5 killed in Thane chopper crash,DGCA to probe

“It was believed that the chopper hit a high tension wire,leading to the crash,but there is no evidence to support this theory,whatsoever as of now. The DGCA will conduct further inquiries into the matter,” said Inspector General of Police Sukhvinder Singh,Konkan Range.

Thane (Rural) police,which got the news of the crash around 10.15 am,conducted an eight-hour long operation to recover the bodies and secure vital data from the mangled remains of the helicopter.

The victims have been identified as Captain Surendra Singh Baduria (52),Captain Allen Martin (30),Captain Anshu Matta (54),engineer Yatin Wakade (30) and technician Dean D’souza (38) — all employees of United Helicharters Private Limited. The team was was heading to Nagpur for a chartered service requested by the Reserve Bank of India. While Captain Baduria was piloting the flight with his co-pilot as Captain Martin,Captain Matta was leading the team as a safety precaution for the long distance flight. Engineer Wakade and technician D’souza were there to undertake pre and post flight inspections,said an official of the company.

Uday Deshmukh,Head,Human Resource (UHPL),said the company has assured the families of deceased that the bodies will be brought back home. “The post-mortem of the bodies is underway after which the bodies are expected to be brought back to Mumbai late night on Sunday,” he added. Captain Matta was based in Lokandwala,Wakade in Bandra and D’souza in Mulund in Mumbai,while Captain Baduria hailed from Goa and Captain Martin from Bangalore.

A team from the DGCA and the company’s own safety auditors will inspect the site on Monday.

SP (Thane Rural) Anil Kumbhare said: “Pune Air Traffic Control informed us that they have lost contact with the chopper around 10.14 am. Shortly thereafter,villagers of Tokavde village informed us about smoke rising from the Naneghat hill top.”

Around 150 policemen and six rescue teams of 10 men each rushed to the foothill and began the 90-minute trek up to the top where they found the wreckage of the chopper — 2,000 feet above the sea level. The wreckage was spread over a radius of half a kilometre on the hill top. The rescue team extracted the chopper’s black box and any paperwork that they could salvage. Police have registered accidental death report.