Chartered plane crashes in Mumbai's Ghatkopar suburbs

MUMBAI: Five people died after a King Air C90 charter aircraft crashed in Ghatkopar, the congested central suburbs of Mumbai, on Thursday afternoon. All occupants on board, which included two pilots -- Capt P S Rajput and Capt Maria -- and two aircraft maintenance engineers along with one person on ground are dead. The name of five people killed in the crash are Captain Pradeep Rajput, Captain Mariya, Surbhi ( Engineer), Manish (Technician) and an unknown person. The three injured people are Lovekush Kumar, Naresh Kumar Nisad and Prashant Mahakal, All the injured are reported to be unstable. The 12-seater aircraft (VT-UPZ), which took off from Juhu airport crashed in the compound wall of an under-construction building called Jagruti around 1.10pm, said a source. The fire from the burning wreckage was brought under control by 1.40 pm, said a fire brigade personnel. The aircraft belonged to Mumbai-based company, U Y Aviation Pvt Ltd and is owned by gutkha baron Dipak Kothari," said an aviation source. "It's an old aircraft which earlier belonged to the UP government and was purchased by this company two years ago," the source added. The aircraft was less than three km from Mumbai airport main runway 27 when it crashed. Main runway 09/27 of the Mumbai airport has been closed and flight operations moved to the secondary runway. The crash site falls in the approach path of main runway. Smoke from the wreckage would have led the air traffic control to move flights to the secondary runway. The Mumbai Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) team visited the spot for preliminary investigation. Detailed investigation will be carried out by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis visited the site of the crash and took stock of the situation. "It is a worrying incident. What were the reasons behind the crash and who is responsible for it needs to be found out," Fadnavis said. Source: Times of India