The chopper was carrying five pilgrims to Hardiwar, who were all reported to be safe.
"I talked to my father Navinbhai and mother Jasodaben, who said all of them are safe", their son Siddharth Patel told PTI.
The daily quoted a police official as saying that the aircraft developed a technical snag due to insufficient air pressure and crashed. The incident took place around 7.45 am. The helicopter, Agusta 119, belonged to Krestal Aviation, a Mumbai-based private operator.
This is published unedited from the PTI feed.
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The pilot, Sanjay Waze, complained of slight backache, while co-pilot Alka Shukla, a resident of Kanpur, suffered minor injury. ANI said in a tweet that the engineer was strangled by the helicopter's blades. The two pilots suffered minor injuries, whereas all five passengers - Ramesh Patel, Navin Patel, his wife Jyotsana, Harish Daswad and his wife Leela, all from Vadodara in Gujarat - escaped unhurt. DGCA official also said that it was investigating the cause behind the accident. A sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) will conduct the inquiry.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat condoled the family of killed engineer.
"It is a failure on the part of the BJP government that they failed to constitute a body to directly monitor the aviation industry", the former CM said.
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