At around 5.20 am (IST) on 15 June 2025, a Bell 407 helicopter owned by Aryan Aviation Pvt Ltd crashed in the vicinity of Gaurikund in the Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand, with all the seven personnel aboard dead. It took place at a forested place in Kedarghati between Gaurikund and Trijuginarayan during the pilgrimage season of Char Dham Yatra. The crash site, at Gauri Mai Khark, around 5 km uphill of Gaurikund, was covered in flames when it crashed. The helicopter left Guptkashi at 5:10AM and touched down at Kedarnath’s helipad at 5:18 AM before taking off at 5:19am for its return. It disappeared from air traffic control screens a few minutes later. Early enquiries indicate that the reduced visibility of the poor weather conditions, especially the low cloud base, is the main cause. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the crash is likely to be categorised as Controlled Flight into Terrain — when an aircraft under pilot control is flown into terrain. The pilot was believed to have tried and failed to steer out of the valley.
The dead were identified as Captain Rajveer Singh Chauhan, pilot, from Jaipur, Vikram Rawat, a representative of the Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee, from Ukhimath, Uttarakhand, Vinod Devi, 66, and Trishti Singh, 19, both from Uttar Pradesh and Rajkumar Suresh Jaiswal, 41, his wife Shraddha Rajkumar Jaiswal, 35, and their two-year-old daughter Kashi, from Yavatmal, Maharashtra. Because of the ferocity of the fire, DNA testing is needed to confirm the identities before releasing the remains to families.
Teams of the State Disaster Response Force, National Disaster Response Force and local police were sent by 7:00 AM and reached the crash scene in an isolated forest area by 8:55 AM for retrieval of the dead bodies. All Char Dham Yatra helicopters operations — including the sorties made by Aryan Aviation— were suspended for June 15 and 16, 2023, due to safety concerns. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is investigating the crash to establish the exact cause, while a panel of experts, which is already looking into previous aviation-related incidents in the state, is also looking into the mishap. The Uttarakhand government asked for scrutiny of all helicopter operators and pilots and directed them to adhere to safety norms.A new Standard Operating Procedure will now mandate comprehensive technical inspections and precise weather checks before takeoff, and a command-and-control room will oversee flights in real time. Two pilots of TransBharat Aviation were suspended for six months for flying in bad weather.
This is the fifth helicopter accident in Uttarakhand since the Char Dham Yatra has been underway from April 30, 2025 when on May 8 the helicopter had met with an accident, two for emergency landing and one non-fatal crash landing.The DGCA has already asked airlines to reduce flight frequencies and stepped up monitoring, including special audits and live monitoring, to ensure safety in a region with challenging terrain. The findings of the investigation will help determine new safety protocol for helicopter services that are crucial to the Char Dham pilgrimage, which draws thousands of devotees each year to Uttarakhand’s Himalayan region.
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