00:02A flight meant to save lives ended in tragedy. An air ambulance carrying a critically ill patient
00:08and a medical team crashed in Jharkhand's Chhatra district. The beachcraft C-90 aircraft,
00:17operated by Redbird Airways, had taken off from Ranchi at 7.11pm on February 23rd and was headed
00:23for Delhi. On board were two pilots, a doctor, medical staff, the patient and his relatives.
00:29Barely 20 minutes into the journey, the aircraft reportedly lost communication and radar contact
00:34with air traffic control in Kolkata after 7.34pm, about 100 nautical miles southeast of Varanasi.
00:41Hours later, wreckage was found in Kasarya Panchayat of Chhatra district. There were no survivors.
00:46The patient's family had reportedly taken a loan of nearly 8 lakh rupees to arrange the air ambulance
00:52in a last ditch attempt to save his life.
01:00Sanjay Kumar had been critically injured last Monday after an electrical short circuit at his
01:05modest hotel in Chandwar triggered a fire. With his condition deteriorating and local treatment
01:09options exhausted, the family decided to shift him to Sir Gangaram Hospital in New Delhi for
01:14advanced care. Along with Sanjay, his wife Archana and relative Dhruv also boarded
01:18the ill-fated air ambulance. Also among the dead was Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta,
01:23whose father said he had sold his land to educate him.
01:32Eyewitnesses describe seeing a red object falling from the sky, followed by a loud explosion.
01:41Investigators say the pilots had reported bad weather conditions and requested deviation shortly
01:46before contact was lost. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has begun its inquiry,
01:51while the aviation regulator confirmed the aircraft had undergone a special audit earlier this month
01:57after another charter crash which killed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Bawar.
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