A MEDICAL charter aircraft with seven on board lost radar contact shortly after departing from Ranchi Airport on Monday evening, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said. A crash was confirmed later. It was a Beechcraft King Air (BE9L) medical charter flight (operated by Delhi-based Redbird Airways) from Ranchi to Delhi. It took off at 7.07 pm and lost contact around 7.34 PM near Palamu in Jharkhand. Among the seven on board were 1 patient, 1 doctor, 1 paramedic, 2 attendants, a pilot, and a co-pilot.

 

The rescue operation was on as more details were yet to emerge. “A charter plane disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff from Ranchi Airport,” according to DGCA sources. The expected time of landing at Delhi was 10 pm. It lost contact with Air Traffic Control at 7:34 pm. Authorities were continuing search operations in the Kasiyatu forest of Simaria, where the crash reportedly occurred.?