BSF aircraft crashes in Delhi: Brave BSF Pilots Died While Trying To Save Lives On The Ground Till The Very Last Moment

An 11-seater plane carrying 10 BSF officers, including seven technicians, crashed near Dwarka in Delhi at 9.40 am Tuesday, killing everyone on board. Officials said a technical snag in the plane prompted the pilot to turn back towards the airport after taking off, but the plane hit a tree and crashed.

The plane was taking technicians from Palam Airport to Ranchi to repair a Mi-17 V5 helicopter stationed there. The plane had been inducted into the force in 1995. It was the same plane which ferried officials for the recently concluded conference of DGs in Rann of Kutch.

Officials said that on noticing the technical snag, the pilot, Captain Bhagwati Prasad Bhatt, and co-pilot, Captain Rajesh Shivrain, asked the air traffic control (ATC) at IGI Airport if they could perform an emergency landing. After getting clearance to land on runway number 10, the plane turned around, but hit a tree. It then skidded on the road before crashing into a sewerage treatment plant at IGI.

Bhagwati Prasad Bhatt and Rajesh Shivrain were the cream of the Border Security Force flying cadre as the aircraft veered out of control on tuesday they used all their experience and instinct to divert the aircraft away from a crowded area so they could avoid civilian casualties. They both remained true heroes to their very last.

Co-pilot Rajesh Shivrain still had the plane's joystick in his hand when his body was brought in for post-mortem, an evidence of how the duo had tried to save the aircraft and minimise casualties till their last breath.

Both Bhatt and Shivrain had over 200 hours of flying experience and held licences equivalent to that of commercial pilots. In what was a cruel twist of fate, the men were scheduled to travel to Ranchi in a train on Tuesday, but had to take the aircraft due to an emergency.

People at the scene said they heard a loud explosion and saw smoke coming out of the sewage treatment plant. At least 21 fire tenders took two hours to douse the flames. Arvind Aherwal, a worker at the plant, said, “It felt like a bomb blast with flames around 100-feet high.” He said five labourers were working at the spot where the plane crashed. “We were making cement slabs to cover drains. The plane hit a water tank, but we were unhurt. However, pieces of metal hit my parents,” he said, adding that they were taken to a hospital for treatment.

Another eyewitness, who works as a security guard nearby, said he saw two charred bodies at the crash site. “The other bodies were inside the water tank at the plant,” he said.

Several leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the loss of lives in the crash.
“Pained by the loss of lives in the BSF plane crash in Delhi. My thoughts are with the families of the deceased,” Modi said.