Tragic Air Ambulance Crash in Jharkhand's Chatra Claims 7 Lives

A chartered plane traveling from Jharkhand to Delhi crashed in Chatra. All seven people on board were killed. The Redbird Beechcraft King Air B90L was an air ambulance.

The flight took off from Ranchi at 7:11 pm on Monday. Communication with the aircraft was lost at 7:34 am. A short while later, the plane crashed in the Samaria forests of Chatra district in Jharkhand.

Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat (pilot), Captain Sabrajdeep Singh (co-pilot), Sanjay Kumar (patient), Archana Devi (family member), Dhuru Kumar (family member), Vikas Kumar Gupta (doctor), and Sachin Kumar Mishra (paramedical staff) were on board.

The plane was carrying a patient to Delhi for treatment.

Anant Sinha, CEO of Ranchi's Devkamal Hospital, told PTI that the air ambulance was arranged by a patient. He said, "The patient, Sanjay Kumar (41), a resident of Chandwa in Latehar district, was brought to the hospital on February 16 with 65% burns. He was undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Sinha further said that the family decided to take him to Delhi for better treatment. The patient was taken from the hospital to Delhi at around 4:30 pm. All those accompanying the patient died in the plane crash that evening.

DGCA said - The plane had requested permission to divert.

The DGCA said that the aircraft took off from Ranchi at 7:10 am. At 7:30 am, the plane requested permission to divert due to bad weather. Shortly thereafter, the plane lost contact and radar connection with Kolkata Air Traffic Control. The plane then crashed.