Helicopter crashed within seconds after takeoff, says security guard deployed at Kedarnath helipad
Gopeshwar(PTI): The helicopter, which crashed near Kedarnath on Tuesday killing seven people on board, met with the accident hardly five-six seconds after taking off from the helipad near the Himalayan temple.
The chopper of Aryan Aviation Pvt Ltd hit a hillock amid dense fog and crashed within seconds after taking off near Garurchatti which is barely two km from Kedarnath, Manohar Singh, a security man deployed at Kedarnath helipad, said.
The helicopter came to pieces as it crashed and went up in flames, he said.
"Nothing was visible at once due to the thick blanket of fog enveloping the area but everyone ran in the direction from where a huge sound of crash came," he said.
As the fog thinned away, the helicopter was seen in flames and its pieces were scattered all over the slopes of Garurchatti, Singh said.
Ankur Shukla, a priest who happened to be at a distance from the crash site at the time of the accident, said when he saw the flames emanating from a big portion of the helicopter, he realised that a serious mishap had taken place.
Shukla got to know the details of the crash when he returned to Kedarpuri.
Head of Six Sigma Healthcare firm Dr Pradeep Bhardwaj said low visibility caused by thick fog appears to have been the main cause of the accident.
Heli services in the area have increased manifold of late but a matching security and control mechanism has not yet been developed. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) does not have an office here as yet, he said.
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Bangladesh tribunal to hear updates from police on moves to arrest ousted premier Hasina
Dhaka (AP/PTI): A special tribunal in Bangladesh will hear updates from police on Monday about what the country's security agencies have done to arrest ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her close aides who face charges over hundreds of deaths in a mass uprising this summer.
Hasina has been living in exile in India since Aug 5 when she fled the country amid the student-led protests.
The Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal on Oct 17 issued arrest warrants for Hasina and 45 others including former Cabinet ministers, advisors and military and civil officials. The country is now being run by an interim government headed by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus.
At least 14 people, including a former law minister and a businessman who was Hasina's private-sector advisor, will appear before the tribunal on Monday, according to B M Sultan Mahmud, a prosecutor at the tribunal.
Another six people will appear on Wednesday, tribunal officials said. At least 20 suspects have been arrested in the case.
The tribunal will also seek updates from police on their progress in arresting the other suspects, including Hasina.
The chief prosecutor of the tribunal has already sought help from Interpol through the country's police chief to arrest Hasina. On Sunday, Yunus said in an address to the nation that his administration would seek Hasina's extradition from India.
Authorities say hundreds of people were killed during the uprising in July and August mainly by security agents seeking to quell the initial protests over government jobs. The violence intensified as the protests morphed into an anti-government movement with more bloodshed, ending Hasina's 15-year rule. Hasina had also earlier sought an investigation into the killings.
