Air Ambulance crash lands in Delhi's Najafgarh after engine failure, all 7 on board safe

An Air Ambulance plane with seven people on board crash landed near the Delhi Airport on Tuesday, reports said. Five people on board are reportedly safe, while two have received injuries.

The plane crash landed in Najafgarh in the South West area of Delhi. Fire engines were rushed to the spot. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital. Alchemist Airlines Air Ambulance had taken off from Patna. It was enroute to Delhi when it crashed at 2:45 PM, reports said.

The six-seater Beech King Air C-90A  aircraft crash landed at around 2:40 PM on a field in Kair village in Najafgarh about 10 km from the Indira Gandhi international Airport, police officials said. The 27-year old plane belonging to Chandigarh-based private operator Alchemist Airways had to force land after both its engines failed, airport officials said.

A 61-year-old cardiac patient Virender Rai who was being flown to Delhi has been rushed to the Medanta hospital in Gurgaon immediately after the incident. The other passengers were taken to a nearby government hospital for medical examination. The 1989-make aircraft, carrying registration number VT EQO, was in touch with to Air Traffic Control as it was in the final approach to landing.

The six other onboard persons include Rupesh (doctor), Jung Bahadur (aircraft technician), Juhi and Bhagwan Rai (both relatives of the patient), Amit Kumar (pilot) and Rohit (co-pilot). “I pray for the early recovery of the injured. The causes of the accident shall be looked into,” tweeted Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said DGCA officials have been sent to the site of the incident to conduct a probe. “We received an emergency call from the pilot. Both the engines of the aircraft had reportedly failed. They made the landing safe. The DGCA is looking into the incident,” Sharma told reporters.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has launched an investigation in the Air Ambulance Crash landing. The aircraft landed 6.0 nautical miles short of IGI airport. Pilot reported failure of both engines. All seven on board are safe, the DGCA said.

(With inputs from PTI)