Helicopter crash in Uttarakhand adds to India’s rising transport fatalities

A Trans Bharat Aviation helicopter en route from Badrinath to Dehradun crashed near Chai village in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, killing six people, officials said. The operator’s fleet has been grounded while investigators examine the cause.

The crash raises the 2026 tally of fatalities in smaller civilian aircraft to 22 deaths across six accidents, the highest annual figure recorded since 2021. Helicopters accounted for the majority of these deaths.

Road accidents remain the leading cause of transport fatalities in India, with provisional 2025 data showing 1,83,434 deaths—about 503 per day—and a 3.5% rise from the previous year. National highways, though only 2.1% of the road network, contributed over a third of road deaths in 2024.

Railway incidents have declined sharply, with major train crashes falling 88% over the past decade, yet over 24,000 people died on tracks, premises or at crossings in 2024, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.