West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s helicopter made an emergency landing this afternoon. The emergency landing took place at the Sevoke airbase near Siliguri. The pilot had to make this decision due to the extremely bad weather conditions. The reports say that the chief minister of West Bengal was slightly hurt while getting off the chopper.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Helicopter Makes Emergency Landing
After speaking at an election rally in Jalpaiguri, Mamata Banerjee was travelling to the Bagdogra airport when her helicopter encountered severe weather while flying above the Baikunthapur forest.
It was drizzling when the helicopter took off from Jalpaiguri, but soon the weather quickly turned extremely dangerous over the Baikunthapur forest area in about 10 minutes into the flight. Torrential rains lashed the aircraft from thick dark clouds packing all three corners in the direction the helicopter was headed.
After determining that the risk of continuing to fly towards Bagdogra was too great, the pilot swerved the chopper towards the hills to the north. This was the only direction which was relatively clear. After a few minutes, the pilots realised they were flying over the Sevoke airbase in the Himalayan foothills and made an emergency landing there.
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Catch Her Connecting Flight To Calicut
Around 12.50 pm, after the leader of the Trinamool Congress had conducted a panchayat election campaign there, Mamata Banerjee’s chopper took off from the temporary helipad at the Kranti Maidan in Jalpaiguri.
This 13-minute flight from Jalpaiguri was taken with the intention of landing at the Bagdogra airport, where she would catch her connecting aircraft back to Calcutta.
A co-flier said that they did not even have the time to ask permission from the Air Force before executing an emergency landing.
While disembarking from the helicopter at the Sevoke airbase in Siliguri, Banerjee reportedly suffered injuries to her hip and leg. However, the severity of her wounds could not be determined. (As per The Telegraph India)
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The pilots and their quick decisions saved lives.
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