Air ambulance crash-lands in Delhi

The skill and the presence of mind of pilots saved lives after an air ambulance with seven people on board crash-landed near Delhi airport on Tuesday.

After both the engines of the 27-year-old Beechcraft King Air C-90A aircraft of Chandigarh-based Alchemist Airways shut down as it approached the airport, pilots Amit Kumar and Rohit Singh skilfully glided the seven-seater to a field in Khair village in south-west Delhi's Najafgarh, around 11 km from the airport.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered an inquiry into the incident and rushed a team to the site. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said the pilots did a commendable job by landing the plane safely.

Officials and aviation experts described the belly-landing of the aircraft as a miracle, as no one, including a patient Virender Rai (42) who was being flown in from Patna after a



brain stroke, was injured.

Only one of the fliers -- Bhagwan Rai, the patient's relative -- suffered minor bruises on his forehead and abrasions on his thigh and was discharged from the government Rao Tula Ram Hospital where he was taken after the accident.

A villager Devendra, who was among the first to reach the spot, said, "I was helping labourers who were building my house when I saw a plane flying very low near my house. Suddenly, I heard a noise and rushed and saw the plane. More people came and we brought the occupants out of the plane."

The aircraft, carrying a registration number VT EQO, was hired by Rai's family and took off from Patna airport at 11.43 am. It crash landed around 2.40 pm. As they were approaching the airport, the pilots first informed the air traffic control (ATC) about the collapse of the first engine and later about the second one.