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Itanagar, Apr 30 (PTI) The fate of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu remained uncertain after a helicopter carrying him and four others, including two crew members, went missing shortly after take-off from Tawang this morning. Khandu, accompanied by two of his personal aides, had taken off from Tawang at 9:56 am and was to land at Itanagar at 11:30 am by the chartered Pawan Hans helicopter.
Tawang is about 200 kms from here.The chopper was last in communication with the base when it was overflying Sela Pass, 20 minutes after taking off from Tawang, and all communications were lost after that.Home Secretary G K Pillai said in Delhi that search parties have left from Itanagar by road to the probable site near Sela Pass.
The Defence Ministry, Army and the Air Force have all been alerted."Unfortunately because of very bad weather the flights have not been able to take off for the search in Tawang area.But as soon as weather clears, the helicopters will take off", Pillai said.However, Defence Ministry spokesman in Kolkata Wing Commander Mahesh Upasani said despite inclement weather, two Cheetah helicopters have been pressed into service from Tezpur in Assam for search and rescue operations.
The request for help reached the air force at 1230 hours and the two helicopters took off within 40 minutes. DIG Robin Hibu said in Itanagar that the helicopter went missing after take-off. 56-year-old Khandu, who had served in the intelligence wing of the Indian Army, was sworn on April 9, 2007 as the fifth chief minister of the state, replacing Gegong Apang.
The air force has pressed into service two helicopters in search operations to locate the missing chopper. The Pawan Hans chopper was a Eurocopter B-3 and was just 4-5 months old.It was based in Itanagar.
This is the third helicopter to get into trouble in the Northeast in the last fortnight.
In the April 19 incident, a Pawan Hans helicopter crashed in the mountains of Tawang, bordering Tibet, killing all 17 people on board.
The helicopter crashed not far away from the helipad and the DGCA had found that proper fire-fighting facilities could have saved lives.
In the other incident, an army helicopter crashed near Gangtok killing four occupants on board.
Tawang is about 200 kms from here.The chopper was last in communication with the base when it was overflying Sela Pass, 20 minutes after taking off from Tawang, and all communications were lost after that.Home Secretary G K Pillai said in Delhi that search parties have left from Itanagar by road to the probable site near Sela Pass.
The Defence Ministry, Army and the Air Force have all been alerted."Unfortunately because of very bad weather the flights have not been able to take off for the search in Tawang area.But as soon as weather clears, the helicopters will take off", Pillai said.However, Defence Ministry spokesman in Kolkata Wing Commander Mahesh Upasani said despite inclement weather, two Cheetah helicopters have been pressed into service from Tezpur in Assam for search and rescue operations.
The request for help reached the air force at 1230 hours and the two helicopters took off within 40 minutes. DIG Robin Hibu said in Itanagar that the helicopter went missing after take-off. 56-year-old Khandu, who had served in the intelligence wing of the Indian Army, was sworn on April 9, 2007 as the fifth chief minister of the state, replacing Gegong Apang.
The air force has pressed into service two helicopters in search operations to locate the missing chopper. The Pawan Hans chopper was a Eurocopter B-3 and was just 4-5 months old.It was based in Itanagar.
This is the third helicopter to get into trouble in the Northeast in the last fortnight.
In the April 19 incident, a Pawan Hans helicopter crashed in the mountains of Tawang, bordering Tibet, killing all 17 people on board.
The helicopter crashed not far away from the helipad and the DGCA had found that proper fire-fighting facilities could have saved lives.
In the other incident, an army helicopter crashed near Gangtok killing four occupants on board.
