Three people, including two pilots and an engineer, died after a helicopter crashed in Maharashtra’s Pune district and caught fire on Wednesday morning.
The incident took place around 6:45 am in hilly terrain in the Bavdhan area after the helicopter took off from a helipad located at a golf course in the vicinity.
The helicopter was carrying three people on board – two pilots, Paramjit Singh and G K Pillai, and one engineer, Pritam Bharadwaj.
According to preliminary information, the helicopter belonged to Heritage Aviation and was based in Pune. It had a registration number VT EVV, the police said.
The chopper was chartered by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and was headed to Mumbai. According to NCP chief Sunil Tatkare, he was going to visit Raigad in the helicopter.
Pictures and videos of the incident show the helicopter on fire and massive smoke rising from it.
The police said that four fire tankers from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) are presently at the spot.
While the exact cause of the crash has not yet been identified, police officials said that dense fog could have possibly led to the mishap.
In August, a private helicopter flying from Mumbai to Hyderabad had crashed in Pune’s Paud village. All four occupants survived the crash that took place near Paud, though they suffered injuries, a police official said.
“A private helicopter crashed near Paud village in Pune district. The helicopter belongs to a private aviation company. It was going from Mumbai to Hyderabad, four people were travelling in the helicopter, assessment of any injuries is being looked into,” Pankaj Deshmukh, superintendent of police (Pune Rural) told ANI.