NEW DELHI — All seven people aboard a medical evacuation flight were killed when a twin-engine aircraft crashed in a forested area of eastern India during a thunderstorm, officials said on Tuesday, in the country’s latest fatal aviation accident.
The Beechcraft C90 air ambulance went down in Chatra district of Jharkhand State on Monday after losing contact with air traffic control, according to India’s civil aviation authorities. The plane had departed from Ranchi, the state capital, and was en route to New Delhi when it encountered severe weather.
The aircraft, operated by Redbird Airways, requested a change in its flight path because of deteriorating conditions shortly after takeoff, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said. Communications and radar contact were subsequently lost.
Rescue workers located the wreckage deep inside a forested area that local officials described as difficult to access. Medical teams at the scene pronounced all seven occupants dead, including two crew members, a patient and his relatives.
“We have recovered the bodies and sent them for post-mortem examination and further investigation,” Keerthishree G, the deputy commissioner of Chatra district, told reporters. The crash occurred amid a thunderstorm that swept through parts of the region on Monday evening.
Family members identified the patient as Sanjay Kumar, who had reportedly sustained serious injuries in a fire and was receiving treatment in Ranchi. According to his older brother, Vijay Sau, doctors recommended transferring him to New Delhi for advanced care as his condition worsened.
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has dispatched a team to determine the cause of the crash. Aviation experts caution that such investigations typically take months and often conclude that accidents result from a combination of factors, including weather conditions, mechanical performance and human decision-making.
The crash comes weeks after a separate tragedy involving a Learjet 45 charter aircraft in the western state of Maharashtra, which killed five people, including a senior state official.
India’s aviation sector has expanded rapidly in recent years, but accidents involving small chartered and medical aircraft continue to raise concerns about operational risks, particularly during adverse weather conditions.
For the families of those on board Monday’s flight, however, the broader questions of aviation safety are overshadowed by immediate loss — a journey meant to save a life ending instead in sudden catastrophe
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