CHATRA: The air ambulance crash in the Karmatand forest, under the jurisdiction of Simaria police station in Chatra district, has wiped out an entire family’s hope for survival. Among the seven killed were Sanjay Kumar, his wife Archana Devi, and their teenage nephew Dhruv Kumar, plunging their native village into mourning.Sanjay, a hotel operator in the Bakoria area of Latehar district, had suffered severe burn injuries barely a week ago after a fire broke out at his roadside line hotel. Doctors had advised that he be shifted to Delhi for advanced treatment. On Monday evening, he boarded a chartered air ambulance from Birsa Munda Airport along with his wife and nephew. Hours later, news came that the aircraft had crashed.
Family members who came to Chatra to collect the bodies after postmortem said the air ambulance was booked for around Rs. 8 lakh. To arrange the amount, the family had taken a loan of nearly Rs 2 lakh and pooled the rest from savings and relatives, hoping it would save Sanjay’s life.“We arranged the money somehow. We believed Delhi treatment would give him a second chance. Instead, we lost three lives,” a relative said.The fire incident occurred on February 16 while food was being prepared at the line hotel jointly run by Sanjay and his brother. Following the lockdown, the business had been struggling, and Sanjay frequently travelled between places to manage operations. On the day of the incident, he had reached the hotel and was helping with cooking when an LPG leak triggered a blaze, leaving him critically injured. He was initially admitted to a private hospital for treatment. As his condition remained serious, doctors advised shifting him to a higher centre in Delhi, prompting the family to arrange the costly air evacuation.Sanjay’s family hails from Rakhat village, under Chandwa police station in Latehar district. Tragedy had struck them earlier too. In 2004, his father, who also ran a hotel, was allegedly killed by Maoists. After that incident, the family relocated to Chandwa block headquarters. Sanjay gradually took over the responsibility of supporting the household, running the hotel through his hard work.Relatives said he had worked hard to stabilise the family after his father’s death. His elder brother, Vijay Saw, said, “Sanjay had rebuilt everything with great difficulty. Now my family is shattered again.”The crash has left Sanjay’s two minor children orphaned—13-year-old Shivam and 17-year-old Shubham, who lost both parents in a single night. His elderly grandfather, Baleshwar Sahu, and other family members broke down at Chatra Sadar Hospital when the bodies were brought for postmortem. Sanjay’s mother has reportedly been inconsolable since receiving the news.Baleshwar described the tragedy as a double blow—first the fire accident and then the fatal crash while seeking better treatment. He said his family had done everything for Sanjay’s recovery, even taking a large loan to book the aircraft to send him to Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, but he died along with his wife in the air ambulance crash. A relative added, “Rs. 6 lakh was deposited, but due to a shortfall of Rs. 2 lakh, the air ambulance service was delayed. We had no idea we were paying for a journey that would end in death.”
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