Helicopter crashes on pilgrimage flight in India's Uttarakhand state, killing 6

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — A helicopter carrying five passengers and a pilot on a pilgrimage flight crashed in the northern Indian hill state of Uttarakhand on Friday killing all six people on board, officials said.

The helicopter was returning from the Himalayan shrine of Badrinath, one of the holiest in Hinduism, to Dehradun, the state capital. It crashed near Chhai village near an Indian army camp in Chamoli district, where its wreckage was found, officials said.

The helicopter lost contact while crossing the Joshimath valley on Friday afternoon, said Prateek Jain, a top Uttarakhand civil aviation official.

Officials said bad weather, including rain and poor visibility, hampered rescue efforts. Police officer Surjit Singh Panwar confirmed that all six bodies had been recovered.

The crash has renewed concerns about helicopter safety in Uttarakhand, where chopper services are widely used to ferry pilgrims to the high-altitude Char Dham shrines each year during the pilgrimage season, which typically runs from April to November.

According to official figures, Uttarakhand recorded 12 helicopter crashes between 2016 and 2026, resulting in 21 deaths.