Pune: The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Pimpri-Chinchwad, Vishal Gaikwad, said on Wednesday that the private helicopter of Heritage Aviation that crashed in the Bavdhan area of Pune claimed the lives of three, two pilots and an engineer.
The DCP said that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will be investigating the incident.
Speaking to ANI, DCP Gaikwad said, "Today, a private helicopter of Heritage Aviation took off from Oxford Helipad Bavdhan. We received information about its crash immediately after it took off at 7.30 am today. Two pilots and one engineer onboard died in the crash."
"The chopper was scheduled to go to Juhu. The DGCA will investigate the matter. Police have cordoned off the area," said the official.
Pune BJP Corporator Dilip Vedepatil also spoke on the incident and said, "There were 2 captains & 1 engineer onboard. After flying 1 km, it met with the accident. There was fog in the morning, it should not have flown but they went ahead anyway. 3 people died."
"The auditing of this helipad is not done. To ensure that such incidents do not occur again, we, the locals, would try to get this helipad shut down. Maharashtra NCP chief Sunil Tatkare had used this helipad to fly to a few places yesterday, he returned here last night. We have come to know that the chopper was going to Juhu, where he was. The chopper had flown him in here yesterday," said the BJP Corporator.
Speaking to ANI on Wednesday, Pune Chief Fire Officer Devendra Prabhakar Potphode said, "We received information that there was a helicopter crash very close to Oxford Helipad. Our fire teams from the nearest fire stations responded. We summoned the PMRDA fire department and MIDC and sent 4 fire vehicles along with 2 rescue vehicles."
"After arriving at the spot, we saw that the chopper had crashed and all its parts had scattered. There was a smouldering fire. We were able to extract 3 casualties and these were handed over to the police. Initially, we got the information that it was the chopper of some Heritage Aviation Company. Other information is yet to be ascertained," said the fire official.
The helicopter had taken off this morning from Juhu in Mumbai with two pilots and an engineer on board.
—ANI