Viral claim of a charter aircraft crash in the forested Narayanpur belt of Jashpur district on Monday kept the State administration and media fraternity on tenterhooks for several hours before being verified as incorrect, with no evidence of any aircraft mishap found during ground and aerial checks. According to official inputs, visuals showing smoke rising from the Charbhathi hill range circulated widely on social media platforms, accompanied by claims that a chartered plane or air ambulance had crashed in a remote forest area located around 50 km from the district headquarters. The information prompted immediate activation of district-level response mechanisms. Jashpur Collector Rohit Vyas and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr Lal Umed Singh reached the location along with administrative and police teams to assess the situation. Search operations were undertaken across the indicated forest stretch, and local villagers were questioned to gather first-hand inputs. During the verification exercise, no eyewitness account confirmed hearing any explosion, crash impact or aircraft movement associated with an accident.

 

Officials stated that a drone-based aerial survey was conducted over the suspected zone to identify any debris, wreckage or burn patterns. The survey did not reveal any material evidence indicating an aircraft crash. In addition, Air Traffic Control (ATC) units in Jharkhand and Odisha were contacted to ascertain whether any aircraft was unaccounted for or had deviated from its route. No such information was reported by the concerned authorities. Talking to The Hitavada over phone, SSP Dr Lal Umed Singh said, “The preliminary assessment by the administration indicated that the smoke seen in the viral visuals was likely caused by a forest fire in the hill area.” He also noted that such incidents are recorded during the summer season and are handled by the forest department as part of routine fire control measures. The administration stated that the information regarding a plane crash was not supported by any factual or technical evidence. Citizens have been advised to rely on verified information released by competent authorities.