An Indian-origin man was killed in a helicopter crash in Atlanta, Georgia, soon after his wedding last Friday night, according to an Atlanta News First report.

The groom, Dave Fiji, and the pilot of the Robinson R66 helicopter in which he and his newlywed wife, Jesni, were travelling, died when it crashed near their wedding venue in Dawsonville.

Jesni survived the accident and is recuperating at a metro Atlanta hospital, reported Atlanta News First.

Dave himself was a pilot with Delta Air Lines.

How his big day met a tragic end

The couple got married at The Revere in Dawsonville in a grand ceremony attended by about 400 guests.

“I was just standing there watching my son and admiring him. He looked so handsome,” Atlanta News First quoted Dave’s father, George, as saying.

As the celebrations concluded, Dave and Jesni boarded the DeKalb-Peachtree Airport-bound helicopter — a flight arranged as a special sendoff for the couple before they spent their first night after their wedding at a downtown Atlanta hotel, according to the family.

However, the chopper never reached its destination.

According to eyewitnesses, the helicopter went down on a 10,000-acre wooden tract owned by the City of Atlanta and maintained by the state of Georgia as a wildlife management area.
Jesni was trapped in the debris for about six hours before she could be rescued. When she regained her consciousness, she saw her husband resting on her bosom.

“She saw blood on him, and by then his body was completely cold. She’s a nurse, so she knew he was gone,” George said.

Jesni suffered cuts and bruises, but no bones were broken, George told Atlanta News First.

What happened ahead of the crash

As rain lashed the area on the wedding night, Dave expressed concerns about the weather being unfavourable for takeoff, said George.

As he himself was a first officer for Delta Air Lines, he told the pilot that there is zero visibility — a condition when “we never fly”.

George, citing Jesni’s account from moments before the crash, said the pilot had told Dave that they would fly at a higher altitude.

The crash is being probed by the National Transportation Safety Board, which has not yet commented on what caused the helicopter to go down.

“Without God there would be many questions — why?” George told Atlanta News First, while recounting the joyous hours that turned gloomy with the groom’s death. “God granted us a perfect wedding, and within a few hours, everything changed into tragedy. The only place we can find answers and peace is in God,” he added.