Jharkhand Air Ambulance Crash Claims Seven Lives: Bad Weather Suspected in Fatal Chatra Forest Accident
CHATRA, February 24, 2026 — A tragic aviation accident in Jharkhand’s Chatra district has claimed the lives of all seven people on board a medical evacuation flight late Monday night.
The air ambulance, a Beechcraft C90 operated by Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd, was transporting a critically ill patient from Ranchi to Delhi when it encountered severe weather and crashed in the dense forests of the Simaria block.
Chatra Deputy Commissioner Keerthishree G and SP Sumit Kumar Agarwal confirmed that the deceased include the pilot-in-command Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat, co-pilot Captain Savrajdeep Singh, a 41-year-old burn patient identified as Sanjay Kumar, and four others including medical staff and family members.
Preliminary reports suggest the aircraft lost radar contact approximately 20 minutes after takeoff from Ranchi at 7:11 PM, shortly after the pilots requested a route deviation due to a violent thunderstorm.
Rescue teams braved difficult terrain to reach the site in Kasariya Panchayat, where they recovered the wreckage and the victims’ remains. A specialized team from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is expected to arrive from Delhi today to retrieve the black box and conduct a thorough probe into the exact cause of the crash.