An AgustaWestland-139 chopper with four occupants crashed at the Kondavale village in Paud, Mulshi tehsil, Pune, on Saturday afternoon. It was on its way to Hyderabad from Mumbai with the captain, co-pilot and two crew members. A video of the helicopter spiralling down went viral on social media.
It encountered technical malfunctions, while flying over the Pune Lohegaon air space and lost control, crashing in a field near the village. The four occupants were identified as captain Anand, co-pilot SP Ram, crew Amardeep Singh
“The rotor lever malfunctioned and lost altitude rapidly, but the smart manoeuvre of the captain prevented civilian casualties with crash in open field,” explained a senior air traffic control official.
According to local villagers, the captain sustained major head injuries in the crash. The other three were hurt, but are said to be in stable condition. “All the four occupants survived the crash and suffered injuries which are being treated in a local hospital,” confirmed Pune rural superintendent of police Pankaj Deshmukh.
On the way to inspect the crash site, the directorate general of civil aviation officials said the inclement weather might have caused the pilot to lose control of the chopper with a malfunctioning rotary lever. Inspector Manoj Yadav of Paud police station also said that bad weather was suspected to have caused the crash.
“When they took off from Mumbai, the weather was fine, but when the chopper reached Paud area, which has been receiving rains since last night, it encountered difficulties. The pilot tried to land but it hit a babul tree and then crashed to the ground,” said inspector Yadav. As the fall was broken by the tree, the impact of the final crash appeared to have been mitigated, he said.
The chopper belonged to Juhu headquartered Global Vectra aviation company, which has a fleet of 29 aircrafts and helicopters. They are provided for offshore oil exploration crews and business charter flights.
