Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj announced on Twitter that a tragic accident had taken place aboard an air ambulance near Bangkok. She said that the plane caught fire, and the pilot Arunaksha Nandy had lost his life. She also said that two doctors were taken to the ICU, while two others suffered minor injuries.

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She wrote on Twitter: “The Air Ambulance of Medanta Hospital with five member crew caught fire and crashlanded near Bangkok. The injured were shifted to Bangkok Hospital by Army helicopters. Our Mission has just informed me that we have lost pilot of the Air Ambulance Arunaksha Nandy. Dr Shailendra and Dr Komal are in the ICU. The other two have sustained minor injuries. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family.”

The doctors are from the department of emergency and anaesthesia. As the plane caught fire after the impact on Sunday, the two doctors from Gurgaon’s Medanta Hospital sustained burn injuries. A separate team of doctors from Medanta left for Thailand later that day to ensure proper treatment for the injured doctors at a burns facility.  The aircraft also had two pilots. The plane took a refuelling stop in Kolkata en route to Bangkok. It reportedly crash-landed at Nakhon Pathom airport about 730km from Bangkok on Sunday afternoon.