Emergency Helicopter Ditching in Andaman: All Passengers Rescued Safely

Helicopter Emergency Landing in Andaman Sea

Port Blair, Feb 24: A Pawan Hans helicopter was forced to make an emergency ditching into the sea on Tuesday morning shortly after its departure from Port Blair, situated in the northern region of Middle Andaman Island. At the time of the incident, the helicopter was carrying seven individuals.

Fortunately, all passengers aboard the helicopter, which is operated by the national helicopter service, were successfully rescued without any reported injuries.

A representative from Pawan Hans stated that the incident occurred around 9:30 a.m. and characterized it as a "short landing incident near Mayabunder in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands," suggesting that the aircraft faced challenges while attempting to land.

According to the spokesperson, the helicopter had taken off from Port Blair with two crew members and five passengers. All individuals have been rescued and are reported safe, with no injuries noted.

Sources familiar with the situation indicated that the helicopter descended into the sea approximately 300 meters short of the runway as it was nearing Mayabunder for landing.

This incident occurred just before the aircraft was scheduled to land at around 9:30 a.m.

This development follows a tragic air crash in Jharkhand that resulted in the loss of seven lives. An air ambulance aircraft crashed in Chatra district on Monday evening, claiming the lives of all seven individuals on board.

The Beechcraft C90 air ambulance, operated by Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd, had taken off from Ranchi and was en route to Delhi when it crashed in the forested area of Bariatu Panchayat in Simaria.

The victims have been identified as Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat, Captain Savrajdeep Singh, Dr. Vikas Kumar Gupta, Sachin Kumar Mishra, Sanjay Kumar, Archana Devi, and Dhuru Kumar.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation reported that the Beechcraft C90, registered as VT-AJV, was conducting a medical evacuation flight on the Ranchi-Delhi route at the time of the incident. The aircraft went down in the Kasaria Panchayat area of Chatra district.

According to the statement, the aircraft took off from Ranchi at 19:11 IST. After establishing contact with Kolkata at 19:34 IST, it lost communication and radar contact approximately 100 nautical miles southeast of Varanasi.

Investigations into both incidents are currently underway.