Chatra plane crash reminds of Najafgarh incident 10 years ago
New Delhi: All 7 people including 2 crew members and 5 passengers have died in the plane crash in Chatra, Jharkhand. This charter plane was an air ambulance, in which a burn injury patient was being taken to Delhi for better treatment. But the plane crashed on the way and everyone died. This incident has reminded us of the 2016 incident in Najafgarh, Delhi.
What happened in the year 2016?
Even in the year 2016, an air ambulance plane was coming from Patna to Delhi. There were 7 people on board the plane, including a doctor, a technician, a heart patient named Virendra Rai and the crew. While approaching the runway, both the engines of the plane failed one after the other, after which the pilot decided to make an emergency landing in an open field at Kair village in south-west Delhi’s Najafgarh district. However, his wisdom probably averted a major accident. No one died in this accident but two people were injured.
Who died in the Chatra plane crash?
An air ambulance aircraft, Beechcraft King Air BE9L of Redbird Aviation, crashed in Chatra district of Jharkhand shortly after taking off from Ranchi, killing all seven people on board. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the aircraft took off at 7:11 pm and established contact with Kolkata Air Traffic Control at 7:34 pm.
The pilots requested a diversion due to bad weather. A few minutes later, communications and radar contact was lost about 100 nautical miles south-east of Varanasi. Officials said the plane was likely hit by a storm before falling into dense forest.
The accident site was located in a dense forest in Chatra district. The rescue team had to carry the bodies for about two kilometers. By the time rescue teams reached the scene, there were no survivors.
There were seven people on board the plane, including two crew members and five others, including a patient and his family members. Patient Sanjay was a resident of Chandwa in Latehar district. He was badly burnt in a short circuit accident in the hotel. His family, from a humble background, had borrowed money to fly him by air ambulance for treatment at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi.
The dead included his wife Archana, relative Dhruv, hospital staff and the flight crew. The Air Accident Investigation Branch is now investigating the accident and scrutinizing the safety record of the aircraft operator.
Shocking similarities between the crashes of 2016 and 2026
- Both were air ambulances.
- There were seven people in both.
- Both were Beechcraft King Air aircraft.
- Both were transporting patients for immediate medical treatment.
- In both, serious technical or meteorological emergencies occurred in the air.