Wednesday, Aug 06, 2003
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Jammu & Kashmir
By Our Staff Reporter
The remains of the helicopter that crashed at Ganderbal, 35 km from Srinagar, on Tuesday, killing five persons.
The chopper, piloted by Group Captain J.S. Kahlon, who is the Commissioner, Civil Aviation, in the Jammu and Kashmir Government, crashed apparently due to foggy conditions. It was on its way from the Nehru helipad in Srinagar to the Amarnath cave shrine. Police said the helicopter, flying at a low altitude due to cloudy conditions, collided with a tree atop a hill and crashed to the ground. The local people informed the nearby police station about the crash. But even as the first rescue team arrived, four persons had died and a woman died on the way to hospital. Besides the pilot, the pilgrims who died are Om Narayanan Kesarwani , Sangeeta Kesarwani, Vaneeta Kadia, Reteeka Kadia. The lone survivor was Ajay Kumar Binjal, a pilgrim from Delhi, who suffered multiple fractures. He was rushed to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and is said to be out of danger. The Jammu and Kashmir Government has ordered an inquiry and a three-member committee under the chairmanship of the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir Parvez Dewan, will conduct it. Col. Ray, a senior pilot of the J&K Aviation Department, and an aviation engineer are the other members of the committee. The helicopter was being used at the discretion of the Chief Minister but recently the Government decided to use it to take pilgrims to the Amarnath shrine situated 5,486 metres above the sea level. The chief pilot of the J&K Civil Aviation, Wing Commander S. Katoch, and the Additional Secretary to the Chief Minister, Zaffar Ahmed, accompanied the bodies of Kahlon and the pilgrims to New Delhi. Kahlon's wife who was at Chandigarh and his son in Mumbai would reach New Delhi for the last rites. Earlier, wreaths were laid on the bodies on behalf of the Governor, Lt. Gen. (retd.) S.K. Sinha, the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the Chief Secretary, Sudhir S. Boeria, and the Director-General of Police, Gopal Sharma. The Mufti expressed shock over the death of the pilots and the pilgrims.
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