By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
A helicopter belonging to Kestrel Aviation with Kedarnath pilgrims on Saturday made an emergency crash landing on a road in Uttarakhand, top officials said.
The pilot was injured in the incident. However, all the five passengers were safe.
State Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj said the government would certainly order inquiry to find out the reasons for the emergency landing.
The landing by the helicopter on the road at Badasu area in Rudraprayag district was precautionary, an official statement said. Video footages showed a car and the tail of the chopper were damaged in the incident.
The director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been informed about the incident, it said.
However, the helicopter operations for Kedarnath are continuing, the statement said.
In the previous occasions, Kestrel helicopters have been involved in several freak incidents even causing death of Amit Saini, financial controller of the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) in April 2023. Saini was killed when he was hit by a rotor blade of the chopper.
Another helicopter belonging to Kestral Aviation made emergency landing due to technical snag near the helipad in Kedarnath shrine on May 24, 2024. After these incidents, the company’s operations in Kedarnath were suspended.
In addition to this, several helicopters belonging to different companies have made emergency landings in different areas of Chardham in the past few months.