The clip, uploaded hours after the incident, shows 41‑year‑old Pratap Bachihalli Ningaraju grinning as the cabin lights flicked on, the camera recording the Badrinath helipad’s snow‑blanketed runway.
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the Trans Bharat Aviation aircraft departed at 1:14 pm amid drifting snow, lost contact between Hathi Parvat and Chai village, and crashed into a hillside at 2:20 pm.
India’s aviation regulator has rushed a team to De Khand to conduct a preliminary assessment, while the state’s Chief Minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, ordered a full inquiry into the accident.
This fatality brings the state’s helicopter death toll to 27 over the last decade, with six of the 13 crashes from 2016 to 2026 proving deadly.
Families of the victims, all from Bengaluru except the pilot from Delhi, are awaiting answers as investigators comb the wreckage for clues.