All seven aboard Ranchi-Delhi air ambulance killed in Jharkhand crash, says official

In a devastating incident on Monday night, all seven people aboard an air ambulance headed from Ranchi to Delhi were killed after the aircraft crashed in Jharkhand’s Chatra district. Earlier reports had suggested one fatality, but Chatra Deputy Commissioner Keerthishree G confirmed later that all seven people on board were killed in the tragic accident near Simaria.

"All seven on board the air ambulance were killed in the crash," the senior official said, confirming the fatalities to news agency PTI.

The victims have been identified as Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat, the pilot-in-command, and Captain Savrajdeep Singh, the co-pilot. The other passengers included Sanjay Kumar (41), the patient being transferred, along with attendants Archana Devi and Dhuru Kumar, Dr. Vikas Kumar Gupta, and paramedic Sachin Kumar Mishra.

Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Shubham Khandelwal confirmed that the bodies of all the victims had been recovered.

The Beechcraft C90 aircraft, registered as VT-AJV and operated by Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd, had taken off from Ranchi at 7:11 pm, en route to Delhi for a medical evacuation mission. The flight was expected to land in Delhi around 10 pm but lost communication and radar contact with Kolkata at 7:34 pm, approximately 100 nautical miles southeast of Varanasi, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Sanjay Kumar, the patient onboard, had suffered severe burns, with 65 percent of his body affected. He had been admitted to Devkamal Hospital in Ranchi on February 16 in critical condition and was being transferred to a higher medical facility in Delhi for advanced treatment. Dr. Anant Sinha, the chief plastic surgeon at Ranchi's Devnika Hospital, explained that Kumar had been discharged around 4:30 pm on Monday before being transported to the airport.

An investigation team from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has been dispatched to determine the cause of the crash.

(With inputs from PTI)