A tragic air ambulance crash occurred in Jharkhand's Chatra district, killing all seven people on board, including two crew members. The Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd Beechcraft C90 aircraft VT-AJV was operating a medical evacuation flight from Ranchi to Delhi when it crashed in Kasariya Panchayat, Simariya block, around 7:30 pm.
SP Sumit Kumar Agarwal confirmed the number of deaths.
"We got information around 10 that an accident has happened... Getting here was difficult considering the terrain... The Delhi team will come here for investigation and try to recover the black box... Total number of deaths is seven," he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Keerthishree G said a thunderstorm likely caused the crash.
"It crashed due to a thunderstorm... Unfortunately, the team of doctors found them dead. The total number of people is seven. Two were crew members, and the remaining five were a patient and the patient's family members," she informed.
The Deputy Commissioner added that, prima facie, the accident appears to have been caused by bad weather, but the exact cause will be determined after a detailed investigation by the aviation authorities.
The aircraft had taken off from Ranchi at 19:11 IST and lost communication and radar contact with Kolkata at approximately 100 NM South-East of Varanasi.
The last known position of the aircraft was approximately 100 NM South-East of Varanasi.
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