Thaindian News

Srinagar, May 26 (IANS) A 27-year-old Kashmiri doctor specialising in emergency medicine was among the 10 people killed when an air ambulance crashed into a residential neighbourhood in Faridabad, Haryana, sources at Apollo Hospital said Thursday.

Syed Arshad Abbas was working as an emergency medical officer with the hospital, the sources told IANS. He was on board the air ambulance when it crashed Faridabad Wednesday night, a senior doctor told IANS on phone.

“Abbas belonged to Nowlari village (near Pattan town in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, 24 km from summer capital Srinagar). He was pursuing his fellowship in emergency medicine in the hospital,” the doctor said.

“His duties included emergency medical evacuation and rescue of critically ill patients.
He was evacuating a patient from Patna to Delhi when the crash occurred,” he said.

After the autopsy and other medical formalities, the body of the young, unmarried Kashmiri doctor will be flown to Srinagar Thursday for burial.

The Pilatus PC-12 single-engined turbo-prop aircraft was flying to Delhi from Patna, rushing a seriously-ill patient for specialised medical treatment when the crash occurred at 10.40 p.m., five minutes after it lost contact with the air traffic control at Delhi airport, aviation officials said.

The aircraft was descending from 8,000 feet when it went off the ATC radar, an official said.

The plane crashed into a two-storey house in a thickly populated area of Faridabad and 20 fire tenders were rushed to the spot for rescue operations, police said in Chandigarh.

While seven of those killed were on board the air ambulance, three women died on the ground after the plane crashed into their house.