Helicopter crashes in Maharashtra's Pune; 4 occupants survive mishap

Representational Pic/File/iStock

A helicopter flying from Mumbai to Hyderabad crashed in Maharashtra's Pune. The passengers present in the helicopter are said to be safe, the officials said on Saturday, reported the PTI.

The incident involving a private helicopter crashed in the Mulshi tehsil of Pune district on Saturday afternoon, the police said.

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According to the PTI, while the pilot was hospitalised at Paud, about 30 to 35 km from Pune city, the three passengers suffered minor injuries, an official said.
Bad weather was suspected to have caused the crash as the area is receiving heavy rains, said inspector Manoj Yadav of Paud police station.

The chopper, belonging to Global Vectra aviation company, crashed at Kondhwale village around 2 pm, he said, as per the PTI.

Locals rushed to the rescue of the occupants as it came down.

"When they took off from Mumbai, the weather was fine, but when the chopper reached Paud area, which has been receiving rains since last night, it encountered difficulties. The pilot tried to land but it hit a babul tree and then crashed to the ground," said inspector Yadav, as per the PTI.

As the fall was broken by the tree, the impact of the final crash appeared to have been mitigated, he said.

There were no reports of the chopper experiencing any technical problems, the official said, the news agency reported on Saturday.

The occupants were identified as Captain Anand, Veer Bhatia, Amardeep Singh and S P Ram.

"Among the 4 people who were in the Helicopter, the captain sustained injuries and was hospitalised. The rest of the three persons are in stable conditions," SP Pankaj Deshmukh of the Pune Rural Police told the ANI.

A video of the helicopter spiraling down went viral on social media.

(with PTI and ANI inputs)