Six people, including a pilot, died when a helicopter crashed in the Indian state of Uttarakhand on Friday, officials said. The aircraft had taken off from the Hindu pilgrimage site of Badrinath, according to BBC World.
According to BBC World, five pilgrims and the pilot died after the helicopter crashed. The aircraft reportedly took off from Badrinath on Friday afternoon before losing contact.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the helicopter came down near a village close to Joshimath in Chamoli district, BBC World reported. The local civil aviation authority later confirmed to Indian media that six bodies had been located, the broadcaster said.
The cause of the crash is not yet known. BBC World reported that there had been reports of heavy rain and poor visibility in the region at the time.
Before the crash, India’s weather department had issued an orange alert for the area, warning of thunderstorms, hail and strong winds, according to BBC World. A link between the weather warning and the crash has not been established in the sources.
A Reddit post on r/india also gave the six-death figure, saying six people, including the pilot, were on board. That post was a headline and short excerpt, so its other details could not be checked.
The crash comes after earlier deadly accidents on pilgrimage routes. BBC World reported that in June 2025, seven people were killed when a helicopter carrying pilgrims crashed near Kedarnath, and that in October 2022, another seven died in a crash on the same route.
Helicopter services are increasingly popular with pilgrims who want to avoid difficult mountain journeys, BBC World said. Their safety has come under scrutiny after a series of accidents. The network also reported that several other helicopter accidents in the 2025 pilgrimage season prompted aviation authorities to tighten safety checks and restrict some operations.
The sources do not say whether an investigation has been opened or when a cause will be determined. The name of any airline or helicopter operator is not given, and the names and nationalities of the victims have not been released in the available reports. No response from aviation authorities or the operator has been quoted.
The key details of this report rest mainly on BBC World, as only one full article was available, and no second full-text source has confirmed them. Follow-up from officials and aviation authorities is needed to establish what caused the crash.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.