Five pilgrims and their pilot died when a Gangotri-bound helicopter crashed in Uttarakhand on Thursday morning in bad weather, after having allegedly ignored an advisory not to fly because of a heavy-rain forecast.

The state government said there were six pilgrims and the pilot on the helicopter, which crashed into the Bhagirathi river close to Gangnani village in Uttarkashi district at 9am. One passenger survived with injuries.

“The helicopter flew despite clear instructions to wait for a few hours for the weather to improve,” a state government official said.

“Often the pilgrims who have booked the choppers complain about being made to wait for hours. But it’s our (the government’s) and the private aviation company’s responsibility to see that such incidents don’t happen just because the company wants to fly as many times as possible in a day to earn more.”

The lone survivor — Maktoor Bhaskar, 51, from Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh — has been admitted to hospital.

The dead have been identified as Vijay Laxmi Reddy, 57, Ruchi Arawal, 56, and Kala Chandrakant Soni, 61, from Mumbai; Radha Agrawal, 79, from Bareilly; Vedanti Bhaskar, 48, from Anantapur; and Captain Robin Singh, 60, the pilot.

This is the season for the Chardham pilgrimage in Uttarakhand, with devotees flocking to Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri. The state government has allowed a few private aviation companies to provide helicopter services to the pilgrims.

“One or two such accidents during this season are not new. Sometimes the choppers develop snags,” the state government official said.

Garhwal divisional commissioner Vijay Shankar Pandey said: “The helicopter had taken off from the Harsil helipad in Dehradun. The reason behind the accident will be probed.”

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the national and state disaster response forces were on the spot.