According to officials, all seven people on board an air ambulance—including a burn patient who was badly injured—were killed when the ambulance crashed in a forested area of the Chatra district of Jharkhand. When the Beechcraft C90 plane, flown by Delhi-based Redbird Airways, took off from Birsa Munda Airport at 7:11 p.m., it was carrying a burn patient from Ranchi to New Delhi, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Around 100 nautical miles southeast of Varanasi, the plane lost radar contact and communication after making contact with Kolkata at 7:34 p.m. Later, it fell in the Chatra district’s deep woodland close to Simaria.
Since the crash location was deep within forested territory, Chatra Deputy Commissioner Keerthishree G told that it was not possible to confirm the precise number of casualties right away. Sanjay Kumar, a 41-year-old burn victim who was being transferred from Devkamal Hospital and Research Centre in Ranchi, was among those on board. He had sustained 63% of his injuries. In addition, there were two pilots, Vivek Vikas Bhagat and Savrajdeep Singh, paramedic Sachin Kumar Mishra, attendants Archana Devi and Dhuru Kumar, and Dr. Vikas Kumar Gupta.
Vinod Kumar, the director of Ranchi Airport, stated that bad weather might be a contributing factor, but only a thorough study will determine the precise cause. Akshay Yadav’s Redbird Airways was founded in 2018 and obtained its non-scheduled operator authorization in 2019. The airline has six aircraft in its fleet, including the one that crashed on Monday. Champai Soren, a senior BJP leader and former chief minister of Jharkhand, posted on social media to express his sorrow over the occurrence and to offer prayers for the victims and their families. Teams for investigation and rescue have been hurried to the scene of the collision.
