An Indian SKB Infracon Beechcraft King Air C90A air ambulance diverted to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on 18 October after a cabin-pressurisation fault damaged its main door and caused it to partially open at about 12,000 feet. The aircraft, operating a medical-evacuation flight from Agartala to Kolkata, landed safely with seven people aboard, although the patient later died in hospital.
Registered VT-HYA, the aircraft departed Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport at 1:05 p.m. Indian time. The occupants comprised two crew members, the patient, a doctor, a paramedic and two attendants. The pilot declared an emergency and diverted across the international border, landing in Dhaka at about 1:40 p.m. Bangladesh time.
Bangladesh’s Civil Aviation Authority had firefighting and rescue vehicles, ambulances, doctors and other emergency personnel ready before the arrival. The patient, identified as 56-year-old Anjana Bhowmik, was transferred to Kurmitola Multicare Specialized Hospital, where she was later declared dead. The remaining six occupants were safe, while the circumstances of Bhowmik’s death and any possible connection with the aircraft fault or diversion have not been established.
Because the flight was scheduled as a domestic Indian sector, those aboard reportedly did not carry the passports, visas and other clearances normally required for an international arrival. Bangladeshi authorities assisted with the formalities on humanitarian grounds, allowing the emergency diversion to be completed despite the cross-border complications.