Ranchi: The ill-fated air ambulance that crashed with seven people on board, while on its way to Delhi from Ranchi on Monday evening, may have sought a flight path diversion due to inclement weather, moments before it lost contact with the Kolkata Air Traffic Control (ATC).
Officials have confirmed that all seven people on board were killed in the crash that occurred near Simaria in Jharkhand’s Chatra district.
“All seven on board the air ambulance were killed in the crash. The plane was on the way to Delhi from Ranchi,” Chatra deputy commissioner Keerthishree G told PTI.
The Beechcraft C90 aircraft, operated by Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd, took off from Ranchi airport at 7.11 pm. It went missing around 7.30 pm and crashed in the Bariatu Panchayat area of Simaria, a densely forested region, Keerthishree G said.
All seven bodies have been recovered, sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Shubham Khandelwal said. The victims were identified as Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat, Captain Savrajdeep Singh, Sanjay Kumar, Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta, Sachin Kumar Mishra, Archana Devi and Dhuru Kumar.
The CEO of Devkamal Hospital in Ranchi, Anant Sinha, said that the air ambulance had been arranged for Sanjay Kumar (41), a resident of Latehar district. He had been admitted to the hospital on February 16 with 65% burn injuries, as reported by NDTV.
The area was experiencing strong winds, heavy rain, lightning, and loud thunder when the plane crashed with a loud noise, locals said.
Vinod Kumar, director, Ranchi airport, has been quoted as saying that the aircraft lost contact with ATC roughly 20 minutes after takeoff. While bad weather might have contributed to the crash, the exact cause will be known only after a full investigation, he emphasised.
“On 23.02.2026 Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd Beechcraft C90 aircraft VT-AJV operating medical evacuation (Air Ambulance) flight on sector Ranchi-Delhi crashed in Kasaria Panchayat of Chatra district, in Jharkhand. There were seven people on board, including two crew members. The aircraft was airborne from Ranchi at 19:11 IST. After establishing contact with Kolkata at 19:34 IST, aircraft lost communication and RADAR contact with Kolkata at approximately 100 NM South-East of Varanasi,” the DGCA said in a statement.
Redbird Airways, owned by Akshay Yadav, was established in 2018 and received its permit to serve non-scheduled flights in 2019, according to its website. It has six planes in the fleet, including the one which crashed on Monday evening, as per the DGCA website.
