By Sagaya Fernando| February 24, 2026
Ranchi, Jharkhand, INDIA: A desperate attempt to save the life of a Jharkhand hotelier ended in tragedy on Monday February 23 evening when an air ambulance carrying him to Delhi crashed in a forested area of Chatra district, killing all seven people on board.
The Beechcraft C90 aircraft, operated by Delhi-based charter service Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd, had taken off from Ranchi at 7.11 pm. It established contact with Kolkata at 7.34 pm but lost communication with Air Traffic Control about 20 minutes later, nearly 100 nautical miles southeast of Varanasi. The aircraft is believed to have gone down in a forest area under Kasaria Panchayat in Chatra district, reportedly due to poor weather conditions.
Among those killed were 41-year-old hotelier Sanjay Kumar Shaw, his wife Archana Devi, their relative Dhruv Kumar, attending physician Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta, nurse Sachin Kumar Mishra, and pilots Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat and Captain Savrajdeep Singh.
A Fire That Sparked a Chain of Tragedies
The tragedy traces back to February 16, when a short circuit allegedly triggered a fire at Shaw’s eatery in Chandwa, Latehar district. Shaw suffered approximately 65 per cent burn injuries and was admitted to a private hospital in Ranchi. When his condition failed to improve, doctors referred him to Sri Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi for advanced treatment.
Given the severity of his injuries, road transport or travel on a commercial flight was ruled out. His family decided to arrange an air ambulance, reportedly borrowing between ₹7.5 lakh and ₹8 lakh from relatives to cover the ₹7.5 lakh charter cost, keeping the remaining amount aside for treatment expenses in Delhi. Family members said they were even prepared to sell land to fund his medical care.
Family Devastated
Sanjay Shaw was the sole breadwinner of his family. The crash claimed not only his life but also that of his wife, leaving their two children orphaned.
Vijay Shaw, Sanjay’s elder brother, had accompanied the family to Ranchi airport to see them off. “We had just reached home when we learnt about the crash from television news. Everything ended in a moment,” he said.
Relatives expressed anguish over what they described as inadequate medical facilities in Ranchi. “Had we received proper treatment for Sanjay here, seven lives could have been saved. I lost both my brother-in-law and my sister Archana,” a family member said.
Loss Beyond One Family
The tragedy has also devastated the families of the medical staff on board.
Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta, who was posted at Sadar Hospital in Ranchi, had accompanied Shaw on the flight. His father, Bajrangi Prasad from Aurangabad district in Bihar, said he had sold all his land to educate his son. “He was meritorious and completed his MBBS from Cuttack in Odisha. He has a seven-year-old son,” Prasad said.
Sachin Kumar Mishra, the nurse on board, had been working in ambulance services for the past few years. “Sachin was everything to me. He was like my own child,” his brother said.
Anant Sinha, CEO of Devkamal Hospital in Ranchi where Shaw had been undergoing treatment, said the air ambulance was arranged by one of their patients.
The bodies of the deceased were shifted to Chatra hospital for post-mortem examinations. Authorities have initiated an investigation into the crash to ascertain the exact cause.
What began as a family’s desperate bid to save a life has ended in a tragedy that claimed seven, leaving behind grieving families and unanswered questions.
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