Miraculous escape for J’khand CM, 5 others in chopper crash

Mangaloretoday/ PTI

Ranchi, May 9, 2012: Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda, his wife and four others had a miraculous escape but sustained injuries when a helicopter carrying them crash-landed today at the airport here after it developed a technical glitch.

44-year old Munda suffered multiple injuries including on his shoulder and ankle and is in the ICU of Apollo Hospital but his condition is stable and out of danger, doctors said. All the six persons are conscious and are able to talk coherently, they said.

 
"The helicopter crash-landed from a height of 20 to 25 feet at the Birsa Munda Airport here. The doctors are examining the chief minister," Director General of Police G S Rath told PTI. The mishap occurred at 12.30 pm.

Aviation regulator DGCA has launched a probe into the accident in which the chopper turned turtle and lay on a side.

"We have appointed Assistant Director (Air Safety) Sanit Kumar as the Investigating Officer," Director General of Civil Aviation E K Bharat Bhushan told PTI in Delhi.

Weather was fine at the time of the mishap which revived memories of chopper crashes that had claimed the lives of Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and Dorji Khandu respectively and Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balayogi in the last one decade.

All on board the helicopter were immediately rushed to to the Apollo Hospital, Rath said.
A senior airport official said besides the chief minister and his wife Meera, two pilots, a security officer and BJP MLA Barkuanr Gagrai were on board the twin-engined Agusta AW 109 helicopter which suffered damage.

Apollo Hospital Superintendent P D Sinha told PTI the exact nature of injuries suffered by Munde, a BJP leader, and others will be known after completion of all investigations.
"At present he(Munde) is stable and out of danger," Sinha said, adding doctors are investigating whether they have suffered any internal injury. He said the two pilots had some external injuries.

The chief minister was headed for Kuchai in Sareikela-Kharsawan district to inaugurate a power sub-station but could not land there because of a technical problem and was returning to the airport here when it crash-landed at 12:30 pm, Sub-Divisional Officer Chandra Bhusan Singh said.

A fortnight ago, Munda’s chopper had made an emergency landing in Jamshedpur due to bad weather.