Ghosts Of Disasters Past: The 1994 Punjab Crash That Killed A Governor

On July 9,1994, a 14-seater Punjab government Beechcraft plane, a new highly sophisticated VIP aircraft, took off from Chandigarh at 8.50 am for Kullu with Punjab Governor Surender Nath, who was also holding the additional charge of Himachal Pradesh, on board with 12 others, including nine of his family members.

The Super King Air B-200 aircraft was originally scheduled to take off at 8:00 a.m., but weather conditions and dense cumulus clouds enroute Chandigarh-Kullu route caused some delays. The monsoon rains had already set in, further contributing to the poor flying conditions.

Along with the Governor, the passengers included his wife, their son Vikram Malhotra바카라�an IAS officer who was posted as Deputy Commissioner of Kullu just two months earlier바카라�and Malhotra바카라�s children. The crew comprised Chief Pilot Captain R.D.S. Sandhu, Co-Pilot Captain Pargat Singh, and a flight attendant named Pandey.

Barely a few minutes before its landing at Kullu, the aircraft crashed into the Kamrunag mountain range in Mandi district, near Serinala, apparently hitting the mountain peak. The aircraft apparently dipped suddenly and went off the flight route, due to thick fog and poor visibility.

There were no survivors as all passengers on board including Governor Surender Nath, and nine other members of the family, died in the crash. It was a horrifying tragedy in the Himachal Pradesh hills sending shock and anxiety in the country. A former IPS officer, Surender Nath as Governor of Punjab had played a crucial role in restoring peace in the trouble-torn border state.

The Beechcraft Super King Air B-200 aircraft with the state of art turbine technology was said to be safest aircraft for the VVIP flights, this the Punjab government has immediately ruled-out any sabotage or technical snag.

The inquiry report, submitted by Justice D P Sood, a retired Judge of Himachal Pradesh High Court, said the whereabouts of this ill-fated plane would have remained unknown, but for the solitary Gujjar family, which saw the ill-fated plane crash, killing not only the passengers aboard, but also the three crew members.

The plane had also lost contact with the airport in Kullu, where it was to land and panic had spread all over the state, in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

The ill-fated plane had dashed against the trees on almost the hill-top resulting in the immediate disintegration of the tail and swooping thereof which further resulted into the hitting of the airplane against a big boulder and catching fire near Serinala.

바카라�The location of the accident is about 25 nautical miles South of Kullu, which was firstly identified by Capt. T.S. Gill, who picked up the beacons of the crashed aircraft while returning from Leh to Delhi on the scheduled Indian Airlines flight operating Airbus A-320바카라� Justice Sood wrote in the 142-page report.

Tarun Shridhar, who was then Deputy Commissioner Mandi ( now retired as Secretary to Government of India (GoI ) recalls horrifying experience when he along with SP (Mandi) O. C Thakur braved the torrential rains and cold winds to track the mountain site of the air crash, with rescue teams.

바카라�The  crash was not normal, it was grave; And its victim was a person who was the Governor of two states alone and members of his family, as well as a crew. The airplane belonged to the Punjab government and all the passengers in the plane had became victims of death was heart-breaking indeed,바카라� Shridhar says.

The bodies were brought to Sundernagar first from there and then taken to Chandigarh. 

A Veteran Mandi-based Journalist and photographer Birbal Sharma, who was also among few firsts, to reach the spot says there was a terrible scene.

바카라�The wreckage of the aircraft including bodies badly mutilated and mostly beyond recognition, scattered in an area of 300 metres radius coupled with the damaging, cutting and felling of 12 trees바카라� he says and recalls two other crashes in the same valley some years later, due to bad weather, killing 23 persons. This included a regular Delhi-Shimla-Kullu flight with 18 persons on board.