Uttarakhand Minister Madan Kaushik interacts with an injured victim of Uttarkashi bus accident who was airlifted for treatment in Dehradun on Wednesday. Pic/PTI

New Delhi: National carrier Air India on Thursday operated a special charter aircraft to ferry the bodies of 22 pilgrims, who died in a bus accident in Uttarakhand, to Indore. The special Air India flight AI 1645, carrying 22 bodies, besides six injured persons, landed at Indore at 3 pm, an Air India official said.

According to the official, the charter plane, an Airbus A319, departed from Delhi at 10.26 am and landed at Dehradun at 11.25 am. The aircraft carrying bodies of 22 pilgrims, six injured pilgrims, a team of two doctors, and eight officials, including three staff on-duty from the government-run carrier, took off from Dehradun at 13.27 pm and landed at Indore at 3 pm.

Twenty-four pilgrims from Madhya Pradesh were killed when their bus fell into the Bhagirathi river near Nalupani in Uttarkashi district on Tuesday night. The accident took place when the pilgrims were returning from Gangotri shrine in the Himalayas.