3 of Maharashtra family die in Kedarnath chopper crash; sister's family skipped flight for sick girl

NAGPUR: A coal transporter from Wani in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district — Rajkumar Jaiswal, his wife Shraddha and two-year-old daughter Kashi — were among the seven killed in the Kedarnath helicopter crash early Sunday.Shraddha’s sister, Pooja and her husband Pravin Mahajan, were saved by a courteous gesture to allow an elderly woman and her sick daughter to board first. And they preferred to take the next sortie. Talking to TOI, Mahajan said, “the woman requested that since her daughter had fever, she could be allowed to reach the Gaurikund base first. I agreed and allowed them to board,” said Mahajan.The two families, Jaiswals and Mahajans had gone to Kedarnath for pilgrimage on Saturday and were returning to the Gaurikund chopper base after praying at the shrine.

Their plan was to return on the same day, but the sorties were cancelled due to bad weather.“We reached the Kedarnath shrine on Saturday at 9:30 am. Our plan was to return by noon. No other sortie was allowed after the first batch took off to the base. The next flight was at 5am on Sunday. Two other choppers also took off from Kedarnath around the same time and reached safely,” he said.Jaiswal is survived by his two sons and mother. He did not take his 10-year-old son, Vivan, leaving him at his maternal uncle’s place in Pandharkawada in Yavatmal. His elder son who lives in the hostel did not join either.