Munda chopper crashlands,pilots avert disaster

The Agusta 109 helicopter had taken off from Birsa Munda Airport at 11.16 am. Munda and his group were flying to Saraikela-Kharsawan,his constituency,for inauguration of an electrical substation.

Soon after takeoff,pilots Manoj Kaushik and B K Singh realised that the speed of the chopper was “uncontrollable”. They decided to return to the Ranchi airport. Medical vans and firefighters were put on standby on the ground while CISF personnel were deployed on the runway.

Realising that the chopper might catch fire if crashlanded,the pilots hovered over the Ranchi airport till its fuel was almost exhausted. They then switched off the ignition,manoeuvred the helicopter down and finally let it fall from a height of a few feet,at around 12.04 pm.

“As soon as the chopper crashlanded,CISF jawans rescued them,” Birsa Munda Airport Director R R Kumar told The Indian Express. Apart from Munda and his wife,the CM’s security officer,M K Singh,and BJP MLA Badkunwar Gagarai were on board.

All six were taken to the Apollo Hospital where their condition was described as “out of danger”. Apollo Suprintendent P D Sinha said they would conduct an MRI on Munda. “Only then can we tell anything,” he said.

The helicopter was hired from Aryan Aviation Private Ltd. The incident will now be looked into by the Director General of Civil Aviation.