Air Ambulance Crashes in Jharkhand, Killing 7

An air ambulance carrying seven people on a medical evacuation flight from Ranchi to Delhi crashed in Jharkhand's Chatra district on Monday evening, killing all aboard, according to India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

The Beechcraft King Air B90L aircraft, registered as VTAJV and operated by Redbird Airways, departed from Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi at approximately 7:11 p.m. local time. The flight was transporting a patient along with medical staff and crew to the capital. Shortly after takeoff, the plane established initial contact with Kolkata Air Traffic Control and requested a deviation due to weather conditions. However, communication and radar contact were lost around 7:34 p.m., with the last known position about 100 nautical miles southeast of Varanasi.

Officials reported that the aircraft failed to reestablish contact after entering Varanasi airspace, prompting the activation of the Rescue Coordination Centre around 8:05 p.m. Search and rescue teams from the district administration located the wreckage in the Kasaria panchayat area near the Chatra-Simaria border, in a forested region. Local accounts described rainy weather and poor visibility at the time,...