Three killed as chopper operated by Heritage Aviation crashes near Bavdhan in Pune

PUNE: A helicopter carrying three people crashed near Bavdhan in Pune district on Wednesday morning. Fire officials say all three passenger on board were killed in the clash.

Police and fire officials said the chopper was operated by Heritage Aviation. Pune Chief Fire Officer Devendra Prabhakar Potphode said, “We received information that there was a helicopter crash very close to Oxford Helipad. Our fire teams from the nearest fire stations responded. We summoned the PMRDA fire department and MIDC and sent four fire vehicles along with two rescue vehicles.”

“After arriving at the spot, we saw that the chopper had crashed and all its parts had scattered. There was a smouldering fire. We were able to extract three casualties and these were handed over to the police. Initially, we got the information that it was the chopper of some Heritage Aviation Company. Other information is yet to be ascertained”, said the fire official.

#WATCH | Pune (Maharashtra) helicopter crash | Vishal Gaikwad, DCP Pimpri-Chinchwad says, “Today, a private helicopter of Heritage Aviation took off from Oxford Helipad Bavdhan. We received information about its crash immediately after it took off at 7.30 am today. 2 pilots and… pic.twitter.com/76mZHSLcSc

— ANI (@ANI) October 2, 2024

The helicopter had taken off this morning from Juhu in Mumbai with two pilots and an engineer on board. Vishal Gaikwad, DCP Pimpri-Chinchwad said, “Today, a private helicopter of Heritage Aviation took off from Oxford Helipad, Bavdhan. We received information about its crash immediately after it took off at 7.30 am today. Two pilots and one engineer on board died in the crash…The chopper was scheduled to go to Juhu…DGCA will investigate it. Police have cordoned off the area…”

The incident took place around 6.45 am on Wednesday in hilly terrain in the Bavdhan area. Two ambulances and four fire tenders arrived at the spot to conduct rescue operations shortly after the incident. The reason for the crash is yet to be ascertained. Further details are awaited. (ANI)