Top 10 Tragedies in the Sky

Top 10 Tragedies in the Sky

After Arunachal Pradesh chief minister death in a chopper crash, we take a look at some tragedies in the sky culminating in the death of some noteworthy people.

The body of Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu was found in an inaccessible village in the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh on Wednesday. He took off in a Pawan Hans helicopter from Tawang at 9:50 am on April 30.


In India and in the world, several tragedies have struck in the sky. Despite advancements in the field of aviation, several helicopters and airplanes continue to crash land every now and then.

Subhas Chandra Bose (August 18, 1945)

Several theories of Bose's death have surfaced after 1945. But according to the most plausible theory, the great freedom fighter is believed to have died in a plane crash in Taihoku near Taipei in Taiwan while en route to Tokyo. The Japanese plane he was travelling on had some trouble in the engine and when it crashed Bose was badly burned and died in a hospital four hours later.

Homi Jehangir Bhabha (January 24, 1966)

Renowned Indian nuclear physicist died when the Air India Flight 101 he was travelling on crashed near Mont Blanc on January 24, 1966. Many theories have been advanced for the crash. Some say that it was a conspiracy by the CIA to hamper the India's nuclear ambitions by killing the Father of India's Nuclear Programme.

Sanjay Gandhi (June 23, 1980)

The younger son of Indira Gandhi died in an air crash near Safdarjang Airport in New Delhi. He was flying a new aircraft of the Delhi Flying Club and while performing a loop over his office, lost control and crashed. His co-passenger, Captain Subhash Saxena also lost his life.

Madhavrao Scindia (September 30, 2001)

Scindia, a prominent Indian politicial and member of the Scindia royal family, was on his way to Kanpur to address a party rally when his 10-seater chartered plane crashed near Bhogaon Tehsil of Mainpuri district of Central Uttar Pradesh. Air Traffic Control lost contact with the plane about 25 minutes after take-off from Delhi.

GMC Balayogi (Mar 3, 2002)

Bell 206, the chopper carrying the first Dalit Lok Sabha speaker crashed in Kaikalur, West Godavri District, Andhra Pradesh. The helicopter carrying the Speaker developed a technical snag soon after it took off from Bhimavaram in West Godavari District.

Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (September 2, 2009)

The then Andhra Pradesh chief minister (and a leader who had an intense mass appeal) took off in a Bell 430 helicopter from Hyderabad and soon encountered bad weather. Air Traffic controllers lost contact with the chopper shortly and it eventually crashed in Nallamalla forest area. YSR's death was confirmed the next day.

Ramon Magsaysay (March 17, 1957)

At 1 AM on March 17, he boarded his Manila-bound presidential plane 'Mt. Pinatubo'. His plane went missing in the early morning hours of March 17 and it was confirmed later during the day that it had crashed on Mt. Manunggal near the Cebu city in Philippines.

Yuri Gargarin (March 27, 1968)

He was the first man to make a voyage to the outer space. He was on a routine training flight on a MiG-15UTI when it crash landed near the town of Kirzhach in Russia. The cause of the jet crash is still not certain and there has been lot of speculation (including conspiracy theories) on his death.

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (August 17, 1988)

The Pakistani president took-off smoothly in his C-130 Hercules aircraft but the control tower lost contact with the plane after some time. It was observed that the plane flew erratically and eventuall nosedived and exploded to impact

Hansie Cronje (June 1, 2002)

The South African cricketer was aboard a KAwker Siddeley HS 748 turbopop aircraft. When the plane was about to land at the airport in George (a city in South Africa), the pilots lost visibility in clouds. Their navigational equipment was unusable to a good extent. The plane ultimately crashed into the Outeniqua mountains.