Sep 02, 2009
STILL NO NEWS: A massive search operation is on in Andhra's Nallamala forest area for YSR's missing chopper.
New Delhi: Helicopter search operations to locate Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has been called off because of light and weather conditions and will resume on Thursday morning, Home Minister P Chidambaram said in the Capital.
The 60-year-old Congress leader, who led the party to a remarkable victory in the recent Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, left Hyderabad for Chitoor at 0835 hours IST in a twin-engined Bell helicopter which lost contact an hour later. There was no trace of the helicopter, which got lost in bad weather.
“There is no good news yet. We are keeping our fingers crossed. Our prayers are with Rajasekhara Reddy and his family," Chidambaram said more than ten hours after the helicopter lost contact with the ATC at 0935 hours IST.
“Tomorrow (Thursday) in the first light of the day, helicopters will continue the search,” Chidambaram said, who is supervising the search operation.
However, a sombre Home Minister said the search on foot by forest and revenue officials will continue through the night. Police and CRPF personnel are also conducting search operations on foot.
"I have advised the state government to continue the search even during the night with whatever light is available. Perhaps they would be able to do the search for couple of hours," Chidambaram said.
The Union Home Ministry has rushed 5,000 CRPF personnel to the area from nearby Chattisgarh and Orissa to conduct search in the area.
Three Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters from Bangalore and a private chopper from Nellore scoured the area where the helicopter is believed to have gone missing. Two helicopters from Air Command in Secunderabad returned because of incessant rains.
IAF will also press into service Su-30MKI fighter aircraft with synthetic aperture radar for high resolution ground mapping in and around Kurnool to locate the missing chopper.
No comments:
Post a Comment