Air ambulance diverts to Dhaka after mid-flight door fault; patient dies

An Indian woman has died after an air ambulance travelling from Agartala to Kolkata diverted to Dhaka, Bangladesh, when a technical fault caused its door to partially open mid-flight.

The Beechcraft King Air C90A, operated by SKB Infracon Pvt Ltd, encountered the problem at approximately 12,000ft on 18 October. The pilot declared an emergency and diverted to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, where emergency response teams were placed on standby.

The aircraft landed safely with seven people aboard. The patient, 56-year-old Anjana Bhowmik, was transferred to Kurmitola Multicare Specialised Hospital, where she was pronounced dead later that afternoon. The cause of death remains unclear, and no link to the aircraft malfunction has been established.

The incident highlights the complexities of medical evacuation operations when technical emergencies intersect with time-critical patient care and international aviation requirements. It also underscores the importance of aircraft airworthiness, emergency procedures, and contingency planning, particularly when diversions require coordination between flight crews, airport responders, medical teams, and authorities across national borders.

Further investigation is needed to establish the cause of the malfunction and whether it contributed to the patient’s death.