Chopper crash near Mumbai kills five

The Bell 212 twin-blade helicopter,that took off from Mumbais Juhu aerodrome at 7.45 am and was headed to Nagpur via Aurangabad.

A private helicopter crashed in Naneghat hill in Murbad in Thane on Sunday morning killing all five on board.

The Bell 212 twin-blade helicopter,that took off from Mumbais Juhu aerodrome at 7.45 am and was headed to Nagpur via Aurangabad,reportedly got entangled in the high tension wires before crashing on the hill. An official of United Helicharters Private Limited (UHPL),that owns the helicopter,confirmed the incident but did not clarify it it was caused by low visibility. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Board under the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has constituted a committee to probe the accident. It was believed that the chopper hit a high tension wire,but there is no evidence to support this theory yet. The DGCA will inquire further, said Inspector General of Police (Konkan Range) Sukhvinder Singh.

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

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The victims have been identified as Captains Surendra Singh Baduria (52),Allen Martin (30) and Anshu Matta (54),engineer Yatin Wakade (30) and technician Dean Dsouza (38) all employees of UHPL. 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 Captain Martin,Captain Matta was leading the team as a safety precaution for the flight. Engineer Wakade and technician Dsouza were there for pre and post flight inspections,an official said.