4 hurt in Mumbai-Hyderabad chopper crash near Pune; emergency landing failure suspected (Ld)

Pune, Aug 24 (IANS) Four persons including the pilot were injured when a private helicopter crashed in a hilly area near a Pune village on Saturday while on a flight from Mumbai to Hyderabad, an official said, adding the chopper apparently attempted to make an emergency landing but failed amid inclement weather conditions. 

The tragedy occurred near Paud which has been lashed by heavy rains in the past two-three days, and the ill-fated chopper belonged to Global Vectra Helicorp Ltd. based in Mumbai at Juhu Airport.

Though the exact causes of the crash are not clear, it is believed to be some technical glitches accompanied by turbulence in the inclement weather conditions at that time.

The injured persons are identified as Captain Sanjay Anand, Amardeep Singh, S.P. Ram and Dir Bhatia, according to the police.

The helicopter was a Leonardo AW139, with two engines, a call sign of VT-GVI, and had a seating capacity of 15.

Aviation expert and Pune pilot Vijay Sethi said that the region of Paud is a hilly area with strong gusty winds that have been lashed by heavy rains in the past few days, with forecast for more rains in the next three days.

He said that apparently the pilot may have attempted to make an emergency landing as it crashed in a relatively safe area, but there may have been some technical issues leading to the crash.

"We don't know what must have exactly gone wrong but the route from Mumbai to Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad passes over this terrain that is treacherous during the monsoon. Most pilots try to fly at higher altitude if it's absolutely necessary to take a flight to avoid such conditions," explained pilot Sethi.

Paud Police Station Police Inspector Manoj Yadav said that they learnt of the crash at around 2 p.m. and rushed a rescue team to the site.

"The chopper was carrying the pilot, a co-pilot and two engineers of the (GVHL) company. The pilots attempted to make a landing but owing to the bad weather conditions they crashed into a tree and then onto the ground," Yadav told mediapersons.

Two of them are injured and admitted to Symbiosis Hospital in Loni for treatment, while the rest were treated at a local hospital and discharged, he added.