Two pilots and an engineer on board a private helicopter died after it crashed and caught fire in the hills of Bavdhan region on Wednesday morning.

The deceased were identified as Girish Kumar Pillai and Paramjeet Singh, the two pilots, and engineer Pritam Bhardwaj. Pillai and Singh were previously pilots in the Indian Army and Air Force, respectively.

“We conducted a detailed inspection of the accident spot and the helicopter, most of which is burnt, due to the fire after it crashed. We will submit our report to higher authorities,” said one of the officials requesting anonymity.

The AgustaWestland AW109 helicopter, with the registration number VT EVV, belonged to Heritage Aviation, a Delhi-based company. The chopper took off from a helipad at the Oxford Golf Resort in Bavdhan at 7.30 am on Wednesday and was heading to Juhu in Mumbai when it crashed in hilly terrain around 7:40 am.

Kanhiya Thorat, senior police inspector at Hinjewadi police station, said, “Today, a team of DGCA visited the spot to investigate the accident. They will prepare detailed report of it and accordingly action will be taken against those found guilty.”

The chopper, which had only the three deceased on board, was chartered by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for election campaigning, officials said. NCP’s Maharashtra chief, Sunil Tatkare, was supposed to use it to travel from Mumbai to Raigad on Wednesday morning. On Tuesday, he had travelled in the same chopper to Beed in Marathwada.