Kedarnath crash: TN coordinating with U'khand govt to bring back bodies

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said that the state government was coordinating with the Uttarakhand government for bringing the bodies of the three Tamil residents, who were killed in the helicopter crash at Kedarnath.

Seven people, including the pilot, were killed when the choppers crashed on Tuesday.

Stalin said that the Tamil Nadu government officials were in touch with the Uttarakhand government officials and steps were being taken to bring the bodies of the Chennai natives back to the city.

The relatives of the three have already left for Kedarnath to bring the bodies back.

The deceased are Premkumar Vanchinathan (63), his wife Sujatha Premkumar (56) who are from Santham colony, Thirumangalam. The cousin of Sujatha, Kala Ramesh (55) was the third Tamil who got killed in the chopper crash.

Kala's husband, Ramesh had driven down to Kedarnath instead of boarding the helicopter and survived the crash.

The helicopter, which was operated by a private company, burst into flames at Dev Darshini in Garuda Chitti, Rudra Prayag immediately after it took off from Kedarnath helipad. The incident occurred on Tuesday at 11.45 am.

The Tamil families had left for Kedarnath on a pilgrimage trip organised by a private tour operator on October 12 from Bengaluru.