Pilot dead, 2 Medanta docs injured as air ambulance crash-lands in Thailand

Mar 7: An air ambulance from India has crash-landed en route to Bangkok, killing the pilot and injuring two doctors of Gurgaon’s Medanta Hospital.

The plane was carrying five people and it caught fire before crash-landing near Bangkok, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted on Monday.

Swaraj said pilot Arunaksha Nandy died in the incident on Sunday even as two doctors were seriously injured and admitted to an intensive care unit in a Bangkok hospital.

A nurse and another pilot too were reportedly on the flight.

The doctors injured in the accident are from the departments of emergency and anaesthesia.

“Yes, they (the doctors) have had burn injuries in the accident, but fortunately the injuries are not life-threatening,” said a hospital source, requesting anonymity.

A separate team of doctors from Medanta left for Thailand later on Sunday to ensure proper treatment for the injured.

“They will help in transferring the injured from local hospital to a proper health facility,” said the source.

The aircraft, Pilatus PC 12 (VT-AVG), belonged to Delhi-based charter company, Air Charter Services.

It had taken off from Delhi at 8.42am on Sunday. It then took a refuelling stop in Kolkata en route to Bangkok and crash-landed at Nakhon Pathom airport, about 730km from Bangkok, late Sunday afternoon.

The hospital had hired the charter plane to pick up a patient from Bangkok, who was reportedly suffering from a lung disease.