Many deaths, near-misses in turbulent Kedarnath skies

DEHRADUN: The helicopter disaster on Tuesday comes nine years after another fatal crash - the Indian Air Force (IAF) MI-17 in 2013 - that killed 20 in the same area.
During rescue operations following the 2013 Kedarnath floods, two choppers had crashed within the span of a month. On June 25 that year, an IAF Mi-17 helicopter engaged in a rescue mission after the deluge crashed, killing 20 people, including personnel belonging to IAF, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).The incident happened near Gaurikund, less than 10km from Tuesday's accident site. The IAF chopper was on its way to Guptkashi from Gauchar when it crashed north of Gaurikund.
On July 24 the same year, a private chopper engaged in rescue operations met with an accident minutes after taking off from Kedarnath, killing pilot Jagjeet Singh Dhaliwal, 49, and co-pilot Abhay Ranjan, 42. Experts blamed foggy conditions and zero-visibility for the accident.
Years later, on September 23, 2019, six pilgrims onboard a private helicopter had a narrow escape when the tail end of the chopper hit an object while making an emergency landing at Kedarnath helipad soon after take-off (a similar brush with the ground led to Tuesday's crash).
In May this year, a major tragedy was averted when a chopper belonging to 'Thumby Aviation' had a hard landing at Kedarnath. The Bell-407 helicopter bounced several times and turned about 270o before landing safely on a helipad near the shrine.
DGCA had ordered an enquiry into the incident. Experts had asked pilots to exercise caution whenever there are tailwinds, especially when heading for landing.