Helicopter crash at Raipur airport; two pilots dead

RAIPUR: In a tragic incident, Chhattisgarh state chopper Augusta Westland AW-109 crashed while landing on the runway at Swami Vivekanand Airport Raipur leaving both the pilot and co-pilot dead on Thursday night.

Senior pilot Captain Gopal Kumar Panda and co-pilot Captain A P Shrivastava succumbed to critical injuries they sustained in the crash. Both the pilots were rushed to the private hospital where the doctors declared brought dead. There were no passengers on board.

According to a preliminary information, the state helicopter was carrying out a night flying, while it crashed before landing, apparently owing to some technical snag on the runway. All departures/arrivals flights have been suspended at the airport.

According to the eye-wtinesses, it was with great difficulty that both the pilots were taken out of the crashed chopper. While the senior pilot died on the spot, the co-pilot succumbed to his injuries while taken to a hospital. 

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel expressed his grief. “In the tragic incident, both our pilots Captain Panda and Captain Srivastava have died. May God give enough strength to their family members and peace to the departed soul in this time of grief,@ he said in a tweet.

The airport authorities were reluctant to give any statement over the incident. An officer at the airport not authorised to speak to the media said that it's a matter of investigation since neither the weather condition nor the night landing facility at the airport can be blamed. "This is the first such incident that occurred during the night. The Director General Civil Aviation and the state government will probe into the incident," he added.