Ranchi, 23 February. A private charter air ambulance flying from Birsa Munda Airport to Delhi crashed in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand. All seven people on board the plane died. The team of Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has left for the incident site.
DGCA officially confirmed the accident
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has officially confirmed the accident. According to the statement issued by DGCA, the plane took off from Ranchi Airport at 7.11 pm. The last contact of the aircraft during the flight was with Kolkata Air Traffic Control at 7.34 pm. After this, both radar and radio contact of the aircraft was lost. This contact ended about 100 nautical miles south-east of Varanasi. Earlier, initial information had come out that the plane had lost contact.
Press Note on Crash of Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd Beechcraft C90 aircraft VT-AJV@MoCA_GoI pic.twitter.com/gmrbij1hjN
— DGCA (@DGCAIndia) February 23, 2026
News of crash received in Chatra-Simaria, Jharkhand
According to Varanasi Air Traffic Control (VEBN), the aircraft did not make contact after entering their airspace. After this, the Rescue Coordination Center was activated at around 8.05 pm and the search operation was started. After some time, the crash of the plane was reported in Chatra and Simaria border area of Jharkhand.
At the time of the accident, it was raining in the area and the weather was bad.
It is being told that at the time of the accident, it was raining in the area and the weather was bad, due to which the plane got hit by bad weather. However, official confirmation regarding the weather will come only after investigation.
AAIB will investigate the accident
According to DGCA, a total of seven people including two flight attendants were on board the plane. The search and rescue team of the district administration has reached the spot while the team of Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is being sent to investigate the accident. The concerned agencies are monitoring the matter.
Chatra SP Sumit Kumar Aggarwal has also confirmed that there were seven people on board the plane. The administration is present at the spot and the rescue operation is going on. Suspicious metal debris was recovered in Khasiyatu Karamtand forest of Simaria police station area, which created panic in the area. In preliminary discussions, there is a possibility of crash of the air ambulance. Parts like propeller and engine are visible in the debris found at the spot. As soon as the information was received, the local administration and police team started investigating.
There were 5 passengers including two pilots on board the plane
Information about the people on board the plane has also been revealed. There were two pilots (Captain Vivek Vikas Bilagat and Captain Sawardeep Singh) on board the aircraft. Apart from them, names of five passengers – Sanjay Kumar – Patient, Archana Devi – Attendant, Dhuru Kumar – Attendant, Dr. Vikas Kumar Gupta Doctor, Sachin Kumar Mishra Paramedic have emerged.
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