Latest news with #MI-17
News18
18 hours ago
- Politics
- News18
President Murmu visits Dakshineswar Temple, offers prayers to Goddess Kali
Kolkata, Jul 30 (PTI) President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday evening visited the centuries-old Dakshineswar Temple and offered prayers to Goddess Kali. Murmu, who had earlier in the day attended the first convocation ceremony of AIIMS-Kalyani in Nadia district of West Bengal, arrived at the temple located near Kolkata around 6 pm and offered puja to 'Maa Bhabatarini' (Kali) in the presence of temple committee members and priests. She also witnessed 'aarti', temple sources said. Earlier in the day, Murmu arrived at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata aboard a special Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft and then boarded IAF's MI-17 helicopter to reach Kalyani by noon. After the AIIMS-Kalyani function, she returned to the city on the helicopter by 5.15 pm and travelled by road to Dakshineswar Temple. Murmu later headed to the Raj Bhavan in the evening for an overnight stay. On July 31, Murmu is scheduled to attend meetings with prominent intellectuals between 9.20 am and 9.50 am before leaving for Kolkata airport and departing for New Delhi, official sources said. Tight security arrangements were in place for the President's visit. Traffic restrictions were imposed at several important junctions in the city. Vehicular traffic was also diverted from some of the arterial roads and feeder roads for a certain period of time. PTI SUS ACD PTI) view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Indian Express
4 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
President Droupadi Murmu to visit West Bengal, offer puja at Dakshineswar temple
President Droupadi Murmu will visit West Bengal on July 30 and 31. She will be the chief guest at the first convocation ceremony of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Kalyani in Nadia district and offer puja at the Dakshineswar Kali Temple in Kolkata, according to sources. President Murmu will arrive at Kolkata airport on a special Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft. She will then take the IAF's MI-17 helicopter and reach the BSF helipad in Kalyani by 1.20 pm on July 30. She will have lunch at the BSF Officers' Mess and will leave for AIIMS, where the central institute will have its first convocation ceremony. As per the schedule, the President will return to Kolkata airport by 5.15 pm and travel by road to the Dakshineswar Kali Temple from there. She will watch the aarti and perform puja at the Dakshineswar temple, according to the sources. President Murmu will then return to the Raj Bhavan in the evening and stay there. On the second day, July 31, President Murmu is scheduled to attend meetings with distinguished individuals between 9.20 am and 9.50 am, after which she will proceed to Kolkata airport around 10 am and depart for New Delhi by a special flight, according to the sources. Security will be tight in Kolkata, Kalyani and Dakshineswar ahead of the President's visit, with the IAF and the police working together in this regard. Sources at the Dakshineswar temple said a special security zone has been set up for the President's visit. Traffic restrictions The Kolkata police have imposed traffic restrictions on both dates owing to the President's visit. A police statement said, 'Movements of all types of goods vehicles shall be restricted within the city of Kolkata (Kolkata police jurisdiction) on 30.07.2025 and 31.07.2025 along the following roads as per the timings mentioned here or till the journey of the VVIP is over, in addition to the normal restrictions on those days. '(i)On 30.07.2025 from 16.30 hrs to 21.00 hrs -Sinthi crossing – B T Road – Tala Bridge – Bidhan Sarani – Shyambazar 5-point crossing – Bhupen Bose Avenue – J M Avenue – C R Avenue – B B Ganguly Street – Lalbazar Street – BBD Bag (East) – Old Court House Street – Govt. Place (East) – R R Avenue. '(ii)On 31.07.2025 from 08.30 hrs to 13.00 hrs – R R Avenue – Red Road – J & N Island – Kidderpore Road – Casuarina Avenue – Hospital Road – Hospital Road East – AJC Bose Flyover – Maa Flyover – E M Bypass – HUDCO Crossing – Durgapur Bridge.' Movements of all vehicles, including tram cars, are likely to be temporarily suspended or diverted on the above-mentioned roads and approaches if necessary, the police added. All kinds of heavy goods vehicles will be restricted in and around the Raj Bhavan. Vehicular traffic may also be diverted from any of the arterial roads and feeder roads if necessary, according to the police.
News18
18-06-2025
- Climate
- News18
Why Chopper Services In Pilgrim Spots Must Be Stopped
Last Updated: The number of people who take helicopters are a fraction of those who go by road and hence limiting such chopper services to emergency evacuations must be considered On Sunday, seven people, including a two-year-old, died when a chopper operated by a private aviation company carrying Char Dham pilgrims from Kedarnath crashed near Gaurikund in Rudraprayag district on its way to Guptkashi. Initial indications are that it also happened due to poor visibility caused by bad weather. There are predictable—and possibly even true—suspicions about maintenance issues and cutting corners when it comes to passenger safety. On May 8, six people including the pilot were killed when their helicopter crashed into a hillside in Uttarkashi when flying from Dehradun to Harsil. Ten days later, an air ambulance helicopter made an emergency landing in Kedarnath when its tail rotor malfunctioned but no one got hurt. On June 7, a chopper carrying 5 people from Rudraprayag to Kedarnath in Uttarakhand had a technical snag during take-off but managed to land safely on a highway. It is not surprising that the Uttarakhand Chief Minister has halted all helicopter services in the state for two days. However, what he said raises fresh concerns. He asked the state's Chief Secretary to form an expert panel to prepare a standard operating procedure mandating thorough technical checks of helicopters and taking updated weather information before every flight. This implies that these basic safety procedures are not generally conducted. That suspicion is borne out by information emerging that the ill-fated flight happened before the time slot allotted to that chopper service, indicating that the owners were probably running extra services off the register. As there are over 300 scheduled flights around that area during peak Char Dham yatra season, the temptation to squeeze in a few more beyond official hours is high. And if the area has no ATC or radar systems, weather changes can prove deadly. Last October, the Chief Election Commissioner and three other officials and the pilot had a close shave when their helicopter had to make an emergency landing near Munsiyari in Uttarakhand en route to the Milam Glacier because of a sudden weather deterioration. Exactly two years before that, in 2022, another chopper belonging to the same company whose helicopter crashed on Sunday also came down two km from Kedarnath killing six passengers and the pilot. So, can rigorous checks really ensure safety? When India's first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 13 others died in a crash in the Nilgiri Hills 2021, they were aboard a MI-17 Indian Air Force helicopter, not one operated by a private company. And yet, even with two very experienced IAF pilots at the helm, their helicopter hit a tree and flew into the hillside just minutes from its destination, the Defence Services Staff College at Wellington. A tri-service court of inquiry examined the evidence of the flight data recorder and concluded that it was a Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT), that means the pilot was in full control but crashed the chopper because of faulty 'situational awareness" the aircraft strikes the terrain. The helicopter was apparently flying at a lower than expected altitude when it entered a rolling cloud bank that reduced visibility to the extent that it hit the hillside while engulfed in it. Back in 2009, a state government helicopter carrying the then Andhra Pradesh CM Rajshekhar Reddy and four others took off from Hyderabad but flew into bad weather and tried to fly around it. The pilots decided to turn left after crossing the Krishna River but then had a problem with the oil pressure as it flew over the dense Nallamala Forest area. They were trying to search the manual for a remedy when the chopper crashed into a hillside while banking left. In May 2011, Dorjee Khandu, then CM of Arunachal Pradesh and four others including two pilots died when their single engine chopper crashed at 13,000 ft near Sela Pass in the West Kameng district while flying from Tawang to Itanagar. Ten days before that, A Mi-17 helicopter also crashed in the Tawang area killing 17 people but the pilot and five others survived with serious burns. Whether Uttarakhand or Nilgiris, Eastern Ghats or eastern Himalayas, hilly terrain is not the best place for extensive helicopter activity as weather changes very quickly there and winds can be very unpredictable at any time of the year. Unfortunately, there have been plenty of helicopter crashes in non-mountainous areas too, notably one that killed India's then Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi in 2002 in Kaikalur in Andhra Pradesh—due to bad weather. It may be argued that politicians and officials often need to get from one place to another quickly and helicopters offer the best option if roads are not good and there are no railheads or airports nearby. But the same constraint cannot be applicable to pilgrims and tourists who comprise the bulk of people using this precarious mode of transport today. There must be rationalisation of usage in the name of safety even if accessibility is a tourism mantra now. The crux of the dilemma is the conflation of pilgrimage with tourism—manifest in the oxymoronic phrase 'spiritual tourism"—because both involve travel. But the purposes of both are utterly different. Spiritual by definition cannot be materialistic; it is about purifying the soul and attaining enlightenment. Tourism is primarily to gratify the five senses—and there is nothing wrong with that. But the attitude to accessing either (or both) cannot be the same. The age-old practice of pilgrimage was not regarded as a fun family outing but a serious personal spiritual journey, even if often conducted in groups. These journeys were not meant to be 'done" as quickly and as comfortably as possible with all modern amenities so that they could be ticked off a bucket list like a holiday hotspot. In fact, temples like Guruvayoor and Sabarimala still prescribe mental and physical preparations including austerities for pilgrims. Just because Char Dham and many other pilgrimage destinations are in beautiful locales does not mean they should be treated like tourism spots that seek to make their customers happy with conveniences from free airport transfers to heated pools. Pilgrimages are a sacred journey, where exertion to arrive at the presence of the Almighty is expected of devotees of many faiths, like undertaking Hajj to Mecca or walking to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Unlike many faiths, there is no extra merit in going on a pilgrimage for Hindus; it is a personal choice. But it is not meant to be an easy choice, to be fitted into a holiday itinerary and cushioned with whatever comforts money can buy for the journey. Devotion rather than wallets are the prerequisite and the authorities need to lay down rules of conduct, if the sacredness of pilgrimages are to be maintained as well as the safety of both people and the holy locations. The states in which popular high-altitude pilgrimage spots are located particularly need to take some tough decisions as the numbers will continue to rise, putting pressure on infrastructure in an ecologically fragile and climatically unpredictable area. The number of people who take helicopters are a fraction of those who go by road—in vehicles and then on foot (or hooves!)—and hence limiting such chopper services to emergency evacuations must be considered. top videos View all Before the advent of helicopters, did devotees not make it to remote pilgrimage spots? Ensuring private helicopters are not taking dangerous liberties with the rules is next to impossible, given our Indian propensity to cut corners. However, good roads, adequate rest and recuperation facilities, efficient hospitals, and provision for wheelchairs should enable thousands of pilgrims to make it to these places—and provide many more jobs for locals too. The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views. tags : Char Dham Yatra helicopter crash kedarnath Rudraprayag Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: June 17, 2025, 15:53 IST News opinion Opinion | Why Chopper Services In Pilgrim Spots Must Be Stopped
India Today
15-06-2025
- General
- India Today
Uttarakhand sees another chopper crash in 6 weeks. Why does it keep happening
The helicopter crash in Uttarakhand's Gaurikund forest, which killed all seven aboard, has raised serious concerns about the safety of passengers. The incident, the fifth such chopper crash in six weeks, marks the second such midair disaster in Uttarakhand this year during the Char Dham pilgrimage Aryan Aviation helicopter took off at 5.17 am for Guptkashi after picking up passengers from Kedarnath. It reportedly veered off course due to severe weather conditions in the valley. Officials confirmed that poor visibility and harsh weather likely contributed to the CAUSES OF PAST HELICOPTER CRASHESBad weather - Inclement weather conditions, such as poor visibility, can increase the risk of accidents. In a previous incident on August 31, 2024, a damaged helicopter being airlifted by an Indian Air Force MI-17 chopper crashed due to loss of balance caused by wind and weight. Technical issues - Mechanical failures or technical snags can also lead to accidents. The helicopter involved in the August 31 incident had previously experienced technical issues, including an emergency landing near Kedarnath on May 24 last protocols - Ensuring adherence to safety protocols is crucial. The competition among helicopter companies might lead to prioritising profits over safety, which can compromise the well-being of OVERSIGHTThe Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) are responsible for regulating and overseeing helicopter operations in the the Gaurikund crash, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami ordered a probe and the Rudraprayag district magistrate also initiated a magisterial A LIST OF PREVIOUS HELICOPTER CRASHES IN UTTARAKHANDJune 7, 2025: A helicopter on its way to Kedarnath was forced to land on a highway in Uttarakhand after developing a technical snag during take-off. It came dangerously close to buildings, and its tail rotor fell on a parked car. Five pilgrims on board came out safely, while the pilot sustained minor 17, 2025: A heli ambulance from AIIMS, Rishikesh, on its way to Kedarnath to airlift an ailing pilgrim, crash-landed in Rudraprayag district due to damage to its rear part. Fortunately, all three occupants on board - a doctor, a pilot and a medical staff member - escaped 12, 2025: A helicopter returning from Badrinath to Sersi with pilgrims on board was forced to make an emergency landing due to poor visibility in a school playground in Ukhimath. All pilgrims were safe. The helicopter took off again after about an hour when the weather 8, 2025: Six people died and one person sustained critical injuries when a helicopter ferrying passengers to the Gangotri shrine lost altitude and plunged into a gorge near Gangnani village in 31, 2024: A damaged helicopter being airlifted from Kedarnath, underslung to an Air Force Mi-17 helicopter, crashed to the ground after it became unstable and was jettisoned mid-air. No casualties was reported in the incident. The Air Force ordered an inquiry into the 24, 2024: A helicopter carrying six pilgrims had to make an emergency landing in Kedarnath due to a technical glitch. The helicopter developed a technical snag in its rear motor, prompting the pilot to make an emergency landing approximately 100 metres before the helipad. All the passengers and the pilot escaped 18, 2022: As many as seven people, including a pilot, died in a helicopter crash near Kedarnath. The incident took place in Garud Chatti, approximately 2 km from Kedarnath. It took off from Guptkashi and was on its way to Kedarnath. The Aryan Aviation helicopter had taken off from the Phata helipad at Guptkashi and was on its way to 2019: A helicopter crashed in Kedarnath but nobody was hurt. Six pilgrims were aboard the private 2019: An Air Force helicopter crash-landed in 2018: One person was killed and three others injured when an Air Force cargo helicopter caught fire while landing in 25, 2013: At least 20 were dead as an Air Force helicopter crashed during Uttarakhand flood rescue operations. The helicopter was on a rescue mission from Gauchar to Guptkashi and 21, 2013: A helicopter of private carrier Prabhatam Aviation crashed while on its way to Gaurikund during a flood rescue 24, 2013: A helicopter crash occurred in a valley in Kedarnath. The co-pilot and the engineer were killed in the Watch IN THIS STORY#Uttarakhand
New Indian Express
13-06-2025
- General
- New Indian Express
Coast Guard starts towing burning cargo ship off Kerala coast
KOCHI: With the fire subsiding, the Indian Coast Guard started efforts to drag MV Wan Hai 503, which has been burning for the past four days, deep into the sea on Thursday. An MI-17 helicopter of the Indian Air Force took off from Kozhikode on Thursday and dropped 2,600kg of fire retardant dry chemical powder on the vessel deck. According to agencies involved in the operation, the fire on the deck has subsided, but smoke is rising from the cargo hold, indicating fire under the deck. 'Once the fire is completely doused, T & T Salvage, the salvage team appointed by the owner of the Singapore-flagged ship, will take over the vessel and tow it away from the Indian waters. Currently, the Coast Guard is holding the towline and slowly moving the ship into the deep sea. The DG Shipping has sent reinforcement from Mumbai which is on the way. The slavers have been told to arrange their own tugs to continue the operation,' said a senior officer. An officer said the salvage team has been supporting the the Coast Guard to douse the fire. Five ships – ICGS Samarth, Saksham, Samudra Prahari, Sachet and Vikram – are involved in the fire fighting and boundary cooling operations. Meanwhile, the search for the four missing crew members is on. The tug Ocean Warrier has returned to the shore due to some technical snag and another tug is being arranged. Additionally, the salvage team has started the hot tapping process to remove the oil from the bunkers of MSC Elsa 3 on Thursday afternoon. The team had plugged three leaks in the bunkers by Thursday morning and is hopeful of removing the oil within three days.
