“Please watch over my daughter. She is sick “Anil Singh’s final words to his wife came the day before he and six other pilgrims died when their helicopter crashed into a hill in Uttarakhand on Tuesday due to poor visibility.
Mr. Singh (57) left behind his wife Shireen Anandita and daughter Firoza Singh. He was residing in an upscale housing complex in the Andheri neighbourhood of the city.
Poor visibility caused the Bell 407 (VT-RPN), a six-seater helicopter operated by the city’s Aryan Aviation, to crash into a hill while transporting pilgrims from Kedarnath shrine to Guptkashi at around 11.45 a.m. at Dev Darshini in Garud Chatti, Rudraprayag District Disaster Management official said.
Anandita announced that she and her daughter will be travelling to New Delhi to carry out her husband’s final rituals.
“He last spoke to us yesterday (Monday). My daughter’s health is deteriorating. He instructed me to look after her “Anandita, a screenwriter for movies, told PTI over the phone.
Mr. Singh, who was born and raised in the Shahadra neighbourhood of East Delhi, has spent the last 15 years residing in Mumbai.
Singh, the pilot who died in the disaster, was a Mumbai native, according to a police official from Uttarakhand who made the confirmation earlier in the day.
However, Anandita asserted that she had no complaints against anyone because accidents happen.
Furthermore, she added, there is often bad weather in the hill state.
According to a senior official, teams from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and aviation watchdog DGCA will be looking into the helicopter crash.
Aryan Aviation was recently fined 5 lakh by the directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for a number of regulatory infractions. According to the DGCA website, this was the sole 6-seater helicopter in the company’s fleet of five helicopters.