Copter carrying 7 crashes into sea, all rescued

Sri Vijaya Puram: A Pawan Hans helicopter carrying seven people, including two crew members, crashed into the sea just 300 metres away from its scheduled landing at Mayabunder helipad in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Tuesday, and all of them were rescued, officials said. The crash occurred around 9.30 am, after the chopper took off from Rangat in the North and Middle Andaman district, they said.

All five passengers and the two crew members, rescued from mid-sea, have been admitted to a hospital, one of the officials said.

“The helicopter crashed into the sea around 9.30 am. A preliminary inquiry revealed that there was some technical snag, and the pilot made a crash-landing on the sea,” a senior Civil Aviation official said. An inquiry has been initiated, he said. “On February 24, 2026, PHL Dauphin N3 helicopter (VT PHY) took off from Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair) at around 8.30 am for a passenger flight from Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair) to Rangat and further to Mayabunder.

“The helicopter landed at Rangat helipad around 9.05 am. It further took off from Rangat to Mayabunder at around 9.10 am. The helicopter ditched about 300 metres short of Mayabunder helipad in the sea (shallow water) at around 9.30 am,” Pawan Hans Ltd, a central public sector undertaking based in Noida, said on X. Five passengers and two crew members were on board, it said.

crash due to bad weather?

Ranchi:Authorities are looking into the main factors, including weather conditions, that could have led to the fatal crash of an air ambulance that killed seven people in Jharkhand on Monday evening, according to officials. Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd’s Beechcraft C90 aircraft VT-AJV enroute from Ranchi to Delhi crashed soon after takeoff. There were five people and two crew members onboard. One of the officials said a conclusion on what could have led to the crash is yet to be reached and from initial inputs, and the weather conditions at the time of the crash would also be looked into.