Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday evening confirmed that the helicopter carrying Chief Minister YS Rajshekhar Reddy was untraceable.
The news was confirmed by state Finance Minister K Rosaiah during a hurriedly convened press conference where he said that it is possible the state government helicopter might have landed in a forest area in Chitoor district, and efforts are on to locate it.
Rosiah said: “All state and central forces are on alert. At the moment, we are still tracing the location of the missing chopper, which has landed in the forests in the Chitoor-Nellore area. We are finding a way to reach the place.”
Rosiah said the state government has alerted the Union Home Ministry about the missing chopper. He said search choppers are on the job and are scourging the area for any trace of the missing helicopter.
He said that after 9.35 am, contact had been lost with the chopper carrying the Chief Minister.
Rosiah said that the Prime Minister’s office as well as the offices of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Defence Minister AK Antony are being kept posted about the latest developments.
A massive search operation has been launched with five Indian Air Force choppers and several others scourging the area for any trace of the missing chopper, which also has two officials and two pilots on board.
Out of the five IAF helicopters two are from Air Command Hakimpet, Secunderabad, while the other three are from Air Command, Bangalore. However, the choppers from Hakimpet have comeback due to inclement weather.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Police is also continuing its search for the missing chopper.
The AP government has also appealed to people living in the concerned area to contribute in the search and inform about any sightings to the nearest police station.
Reddy was on his way to Chitoor, by chopper which initial reports said had made an emergency landing near Kurnool due to inclement weather.
The chopper took off at 8.35 am for Chitoor and was scheduled to reach there at 10.45 am, sources said.
The chopper was said to have landed in the middle of a thick forest, said to be affected by Maoist activities.
From Zeenews
0 comments:
Post a Comment