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Journalism of Courage
Family members of an Indian honeymooning couple,who was killed in a fiery tourist chopper crash near Las Vegas in the US last week,have filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful death.
The civil lawsuit,filed by a lawyer on behalf of the family members of Lovish Bhanot (28) and his wife Anupama Bhola (26),named Sundance Helicopters,the Las Vegas-based operator of the chopper that crashed on December 7 near Lake Mead.
The lawsuit was filed in the Clark County District Court.
The couple,from Gurgaon near Delhi,had been vacationing in Las Vegas when their helicopter crashed near the bottom of a canyon.
The three other victims were the pilot,31-year-old Landon Neild of Las Vegas,and 49-year-old passengers Delwin and Tamara Chapman from Utica,Kansas,a couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. “In the final minute before last week’s crash,the tour helicopter shot up 600 feet,turned left,dropped 800 feet and turned left again,radar records indicate,” said a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) preliminary report released last night.
“It then plummeted into a ravine and burst into flames,” the ‘Los Angeles Times’ quoted the NTSB report as saying.
The chopper,built in 1989,underwent maintenance the day before the crash during which the engine and parts of the rotors were replaced,it said.
The brief summary of evidence,which draws no conclusions as to the crash’s cause,is a prelude to a final report that could take up to a year to complete,the paper said.
