Hyderabad, September 02: A helicopter carrying Chief Minister Y,S, Rajasekhar Reddy is missing for ten hours since it took off from here, triggering concerns about his safety.
At 7.15 pm, finance minister K. Rosaiah said there was still no word from the Chief Minister, the personnel accompanying him or the aircraft crew.
The IAF has pressed into service a Su-30MKI fighter aircraft with synthetic aperture radar for high resolution ground mapping in and around Kurnool to locate the copter.
The US government has been asked for real-time imagery take from satellites that it may have of the region.
A 6 pm report said 5,000 CRPF personnel, or five battalions, were being pressed into service to search for the Chief Minister.
Local Chenchu tribals are being equipped with BSNL cellphones and asked to search the forest.
The Indian Air Force has deployed an unmanned aerial vehicle to search for the helicopter.
The Met Department has put out heavy rain warning in the area.
The government chopper with the 60-year-old Chief Minister on board took off at 8.45 am and was scheduled to land at Chitoor district at 10.40 am.
The last message received from the helicopter was at 9.12 am. At that time, the helicopter was believed to have been flying over the Atmakur-Nandikotkur region
There has been no word since from the Chief Minister, his security personnel, or the crew of the helicopter.
“The helicopter carrying the Chief Minister has not yet been located,” Kurnool deputy superintendent of police Ch Srikant said. State DGP S.S.P. Yadav and Intelligence chief Aravinda Rao and chief secretary Ramakanth Reddy are supervising the operations to trace the missing chopper. All police stations along the flight path of the helicopter were put on high alert.
The IAF pressed into service four helicopters to search for the missing copter, two Chetaks, a MI8 and a Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter.
Two helicopters from Hakimpet air command in Secunderabad returned because of
inclement weather. A private helicopter from Nellore also joined the search mainly over the Nallamala forest ranges.
Finance minister K. Rosaiah appealed to the people in Chittoor, Mahbubnagar,
Prakasam and Kurnool districts to provide any information they have on the missing helicopter. Police and forest departments in the area were coordinating the operation.
He said the Prime Minister’s Office, Union home ministry and defence ministry have been alerted while the office of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi was in touch with the state government. Union home minister P Chidambaram was personally monitoring the situation.
Former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Praja Rayam leader Chiranjeeviexpressed the hope that Rajasekhar Reddy is safe and sound. They said the first prioritywas the Chief Minister’s safety and they prayed he should come back home safe and
sound.
Naidu the Centre should rush said latest technology and equipment to locate his whereabouts and rescue him. Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressed concern over the disappearance of the helicopter carrying the Chief Minister.
The Congress president hoped and prayed that Reddy is safe and would return to work
soon.
–Agencies