Heart-stopping moments unfolded over Andaman waters Tuesday morning, as a Pawan Hans helicopter was compelled to make an unscheduled splashdown in the sea. Incredibly, the two crew members and five passengers disembarked safely, rescued promptly after the 9:30 AM episode near Mayabandar.
Departing Sri Vijaya Puram in Port Blair, the aircraft grappled with a mechanical glitch, leading to a precautionary landing 300 meters before the runway threshold. Local rescue operations sprang into action seamlessly, confirming zero harm to those aboard.
Company representatives lauded the pilots’ precision in what they called a ‘short landing,’ preventing escalation. The event poignantly follows a fatal Redbird Airways air ambulance incident in Jharkhand just 24 hours prior, where seven perished in a forested crash site.
The Ranchi-to-Delhi flight vanished from screens post-7:34 PM Kolkata contact, impacting Simaria in Chatra district, 100 nautical miles from Varanasi. Victims comprised aviators Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat and Savrajdeep Singh, physician Vikas Kumar Gupta, and civilians Sachin Mishra, Sanjay Kumar, Archana Devi, Dhruv Kumar.
Ongoing investigations by aviation watchdogs promise deeper dives into safety lapses. The Andaman relief narrative celebrates human ingenuity under duress, contrasting sharply with recent tragedies and spurring nationwide aviation vigilance.