All seven people on board an air ambulance were killed after the aircraft crashed near Simaria in Chatra district of Jharkhand on Monday evening, reported PTI.
The aircraft was flying from Ranchi to Delhi at the time of the incident. The plane, operated by Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd, took off from Ranchi airport at 7:11 pm.
According to Ranchi airport director Vinod Kumar, the aircraft lost contact with Air Traffic Control (ATC) around 20 minutes after departure.
Chatra Deputy Commissioner Keerthishree G confirmed to PTI that the aircraft went missing around 7.30 pm and later crashed in the Bariatu Panchayat area of Simaria.
She stated that the crash site is located in a remote forested region, making access difficult for rescue teams. Later, she said that the crash occurred due to a thunderstorm in the area at the time.
Shubham Khandelwal, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), said that the bodies of all seven persons on board had been recovered from the crash site.
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The victims were identified as Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat, Captain Savrajdeep Singh, Sanjay Kumar, Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta, Sachin Kumar Mishra, Archana Devi and Dhuru Kumar.
According to officials, there were two crew members among the seven people on board.
Anant Sinha, CEO of Devkamal Hospital in Ranchi, said that the air ambulance had been arranged to transport one of the hospital's patients to Delhi for advanced treatment.
He said the patient, Sanjay Kumar, 41, a resident of Chandwa in Latehar district, had been admitted to the hospital on February 16 with 65 per cent burn injuries. He was undergoing treatment there before his family decided to shift him to Delhi for further medical care.
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What Did DGCA Say ?
In a statement, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that the Beechcraft C90 aircraft bearing registration VT-AJV was operating a medical evacuation flight on the Ranchi-Delhi route when it crashed in Kasaria Panchayat of Chatra district on February 23, 2026.
The DGCA stated that the aircraft became airborne from Ranchi at 19:11 IST. It established contact with Kolkata at 19:34 IST. However, communication and radar contact with Kolkata were lost shortly thereafter, at a point approximately 100 nautical miles south-east of Varanasi.
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According to information available on the DGCA website, Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd is a Delhi-based non-scheduled operator that runs a fleet of six aircraft. One of these aircraft was involved in the crash.
The district administration immediately sent search and rescue teams to the crash site. The DGCA also said that a team from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) was being dispatched to investigate the incident.
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