Video: Chopper Makes Emergency Landing On Road, Tail Crushes Car

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A helicopter headed to Kedarnath made an emergency landing on a highway in Uttarakhand due to a technical issue, damaging an unoccupied car. Five pilgrims were safe, but the pilot suffered minor injuries. The incident did not disrupt helicopter services.
A helicopter on its way to Kedarnath was forced to land on a highway in Uttarakhand as it developed a technical snag during take-off, coming dangerously close to buildings and its tail rotor damaging an unoccupied car. The five pilgrims on board came out safely, while the pilot sustained minor injuries.
The helicopter had taken off from from the Barasu base at 12.52 pm and was to fly the pilgrims for a duration of 45-50 minutes to the Kedarnath pilgrimage. Within minutes of taking off, the pilot reported a suspected issue with the collective control getting stuck. In response, he executed a controlled force landing on the road adjacent to the helipad.
Kedarnath heli service nodal officer Rahul Chaubey told PTI that the incident did not affect the helicopter shuttle service to the Himalayan temple. Efforts are underway to remove the helicopter from the highway.
The hard landing comes a month after a helicopter on its way to Gangotri temple crashed near Gangnani in Uttarkashi district on May 8, killing six people including five women and the pilot, and leaving one male passenger seriously injured.
On May 12, a helicopter returning from Badrinath to Sersi with pilgrims on board was forced to make an emergency landing due to poor visibility in a school playground in Ukhimath. All pilgrims were safe. The helicopter took off again after about an hour when the weather improved.
On May 17, a heli ambulance from AIIMS Rishikesh crash-landed near the Kedarnath helipad in Uttarakhand due to damage to its rear part. Fortunately, all three occupants on board - a doctor, a pilot and a medical staff member - escaped unharmed.

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Churpi, a variety of hardened cheese, is a popular traditional snack in the Himalayan belt of Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet and parts of northeastern India. Primarily made from yak milk, it can also be made using cow or buffalo milk, and even the milk of chauris, a crossbreed of yak and cow. Arunachal Pradesh is known for its Geographical Indication tagged churpi made from yak milk. Recently, a farmer from the Adi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh has developed churpi made from the milk of mithun – a semi-domesticated bovine species (Bos frontalis) native to Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Manipur, Mizoram, and Nagaland. Mithun has a very limited geographical distribution. An adult weighs between 400 and 600 kg and its productive life ranges from 16 to 18 years. Mithuns produce one calf every year. Tadang Tamut, who comes from a line of mithun farmers, collaborated with Indian Council of Agricultural Research's National Research Centre on Mithunin Nagaland, to explore the idea of mithun churpi. 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'Likely due to its high fat content, the new churpi tastes milkier, and fattier,' he says. 'So far three batches of seven kilos each have been developed and are currently being sold in packs of 200 grams. They are priced at Rs 200 per pack,' says Tamut. He hopes it will be popular once it is fully launched in the market, adding that there is already a demand from retailers in Delhi and Karnataka for the product. The National Research Centre on Mithunin Nagaland is also exploring the possibility of scaling up mithun churpi production, which could bring in lucrative opportunities for mithun farmers in the region. Free-ranging mithun Tamut is a mithun farmer who owns 48 mithuns in his village Jomlu Mongku, in Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. During a conversation with friends from the National Dairy Development Board, Tamut was struck by the idea of mithun churpi. 'Nepal generates millions in revenue from churpi made from cow, buffalo, and yak milk. I realised that we could do the same with mithun milk,' says Tamut, a sociology graduate who has been farming since 2005. According to a report, in the fiscal year 2021-'22, churpi exports from Nepal were valued at approximately $22 million, making it one of the country's top export commodities, apart from tea and carpets. The demand for churpi, particularly as a natural dog chew in international markets, has led to a substantial increase in exports. For instance, in the first four months of the fiscal year 2024-25, Nepal exported 621,747 kg of churpi to the United States, accounting for about 90% of Nepal's churpi exports. 'Traditionally, churpi has been used as a nutrient-dense food by people in the hills. It is valuable because of its long shelf life (around six months) and low moisture content, and it does not require refrigeration,' says Girish Patil, Director of the National Research Centre on Mithunin Nagaland, who has been trying to promote mithun farming as a sustainable source of income for farmers in the state. 'We collaborated with Tamut, who is a progressive farmer and works closely with us. We standardised the product [churpi] in our lab, worked on its production, and conducted sensory evaluations at our institute. The response has been positive, and we are now conducting further analysis,' he says. This is not the first time that a product has been made out of mithun milk. Due to its high protein and fat content, mithun milk can also be used to make other products such as paneer, ghee, curd, and more. The National Research Centre on Mithunin Nagaland had previously experimented with paneer and lassi made out of mithun milk, but are now focussing on developing the mithun churpi. 'Currently, we are producing it (churpi) in small quantities. Since drying reduces the milk volume significantly, only about 20% of the solids remain,' explains Patil. Making churpi requires a substantial amount of raw milk; one litre of milk will give 200-250 grams of churpi. 'A mithun will give around a maximum of two litres per day, but if farmers are able to collect this milk and have a regular source of income from mithun, then commercial mithun farming is possible,' he says. What makes mithun milk special? The mithun, often referred to as 'the cattle of mountains', is an indicator of wealth and social status in the tribal society of Arunachal Pradesh. The larger the herd size, the wealthier and prestigious the owner is considered. It is primarily reared for its meat, considered superior in quality compared to that of other livestock. It was recognised as a food animal by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, or FSSAI, from September 1, 2023. The mithun is also listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature – the IUCN. According to the 2019 livestock census, the mithun population in India is approximately 390,000. Most of these, 89.7%, are found in Arunachal Pradesh, with 5.98% in Nagaland, 2.36% in Manipur and 1.02% in Mizoram. Reared in community forests under the free-range system, mithuns move and browse around the forest, foraging for shrubs, herbs, and other natural vegetation. They are an efficient converter of forest biomass into fat-rich milk; they can eat plants and vegetation found naturally in forests, which many other dairy animals might not easily digest, and turn that food into milk. It also translates to high quality meat and leather. A study conducted by the National Research Centre on Mithun in Nagaland found that mithun milk was rich in essential amino acids, with glutamic acid, lysine, proline, and isoleucine being the most abundant. In addition, mithun milk was found to have a high concentration of vitamins A, D, and E, as well as calcium; about 7.3% fat, 4% protein, and 5.7% lactose; and also a good amount of solids-not-fat – the nutrients left after removing fat and water. 'As compared to milk from other bovine animals, mithun milk contains higher levels of proteins, fats and essential nutrients like calcium, phosphorus, and different vitamins,' says Rounak Chourasia, a research associate at National Agri-Food and Biomanufacturing Institute, in Mohali. Known for his work in developing bioactive peptides-enriched novel soybean churpi cheese, aimed at the socio-economic upliftment of local communities in Sikkim, Chourasia says that fermentation of such a highly nutritious substrate can result in the production of churpi with a high content of bioactive peptides, conjugated linoleic acid, vitamins, and minerals, leading to a novel functional food for the northeastern region of India. 'This vision aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, focusing mainly on SDG 2 (zero hunger), and SDG 3 (good health and well-being). Besides, utilising an unexplored food source in mithun milk can help the socio-economic upliftment of local tribes and communities of the region (SDG 11 – sustainable communities),' he adds. Challenges and possibilities For Patil, the long-term vision is to make mithun milk a commercial production, like other dairy farms. The National Research Centre on Mithun in Nagaland has established 120 semi-intensive units in various places in Arunachal Pradesh. 'Since mithuns are primarily raised for meat, and they have economic value only when they are three-four years old, it [mithun farming] has not been able to become commercial. Since there was no existing culture of milking, it took time to propagate this concept among the farmers,' says Patil. By integrating milk production, Patil believes that mithun farming can become a more stable source of income. Despite being a milch animal, with high quality milk, the consumption of mithun milk is not an accepted practice among its rearers. There are several factors for that. 'The challenge is that, firstly, mithuns yield very little milk – hardly 1.5 to two litres a day. Secondly, farmers are reluctant to milk their mithuns,' says Patil. 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