Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis chopper on Thursday crash landed in Nilanga in Latur. Fadnavis and his team escaped unhurt. “Our helicopter did meet with an accident in Latur but me and my team is absolutely safe, nothing to worry”, tweeted Fadnavis.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.courtesy:NMTV
A Maharashtra Sikorsky helicopter VT-CMM took off from Nilanga SE of Latur at 1200 hrs with six persons on board, including Mr. Fadnavis, IAS officer Pravin Pardeshi and OSD Ketan Pathak. After the takeoff, the pilot decided to land back as he found a variable wind pattern.During the landing, the helicopter got entangled in wires and fell down. All on-board were safe, said a statement from the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation).
After the incident, the pilot of the chopper that crash landed said, “Took off from helipad at 12, wind speed then was high. Later when we initiated, wind speed reduced. Helicopter then started coming down, there was a high tension cable there, we tried avoiding it but by then helicopter had touched it.”
Mr.Fadnavis said“Nobody got hurt. My media advisor Ketan Pathak has suffered minor injuries. With the blessings of 11 crore people of Maharashtra, I am safe.”
“There was a minor accident involving the helicopter. People shouldn’t believe in rumours,” Fadnavis later told media persons.
“This is a new helicopter. We will seek information from police on this incident,” the Chief Minister added. Recently, while visiting Gadchiroli in Vidarbha region, his helicopter had suffered a technical snag, following which he had travel by road to Nagpur.
The Chief Minister was in Latur for the launch of ‘Shivar Samwad Sabha’, an initiative to reach out to farmers in the state.He visited Latur’s Halgara village as a part of the initiative and met the farmers in Latur district of Marathwada region.
The government’s initiative comes amid the rising resentment among farmers across the state over delay in procurement of tur this year.
Soon after the incident, all the passengers were evacuated from the chopper. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu expressed shock over the incident and tweeted, “Shocked to hear about (the) accident to Helicopter of Devendra Fadnavis but glad to know he’s is safe Wishing him the best.”
