Emergency service personnel and rescue workers gather around the wreckage of a helicopter which crashed at Katra yesterday.

Agencies/Jammu


All seven people on board - six pilgrims and the pilot - were killed yesterday when a helicopter crashed in Kashmir after leaving a popular Hindu shrine in the mountainous region, police said.
The helicopter crashed after taking off from the town of Katra, near the Vaishnodevi shrine in the Jammu which attracts millions of pilgrims every year.
“Seven people - six pilgrims and the lady pilot - died in the crash. We are investigating the cause of the accident,” Jammu’s most senior police officer, Inspector General Danish Rana, said.
Television footage showed charred wreckage strewn over a field as police kept back dozens of onlookers.
Those on board have been identified as pilot Sunita Vijayan, and six pilgrims Arjun Singh, Maheshwar, Vandana, Akshita, Amritpal Singh and Sachin.
The chopper caught fire immediately on crashing on the mountainside.
The shrine devoted to Vaishnodevi, an incarnation of the three forms of Shakti, the goddess of power, is 60km northeast of the Jammu.
Some pilgrims take private helicopters to and from Katra in the Trikuta mountains rather than travelling by road.
In February a military helicopter crashed north of Srinagar, the main city in Jammu and Kashmir, killing both pilots.