Andhra CM, 4 others killed in chopper crash

A day after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's chopper went missing, his body was recovered on Thursday morning from the site where it had crashed. Two senior state government officials and two crew members were also killed in the crash.

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The commandoes were trying to airlift the bodies from the spot.

The 8-seater twin-engine Bell 430 helicopter, with five people on board, had gone missing on Wednesday morning while it was on way to Chittoor. The helicopter had made a brief halt at Kurnool.

The chief minister was accompanied by his Special Secretary S. Subramanyam, newly appointed Chief Security Officer A.S.C. Wesley. The helicopter crew comprised a pilot and co-pilot from Deccan Aviation.

After about 26 hours the chopper crashed atop Rudrakota hill, about 74 km east off Kurnool, it was traced by an Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter around 8.40 am on Thursday. The chopper had gone off radar around 9.10 am on Wednesday.

Earlier, the IAF choppers tried to land near the crashed helicopter, but failed due to thick jungles and rough terrain. Later, 14 commandoes of Special Forces landed near the crash site. They were descended on the hill by IAF's MI helicopters using ropes.

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Two helicopters were hovering over the area where the helicopter has been located and was looking for a spot to land.

Even as the home ministry had confirmed that the helicopter had crashed, it took another hour for the commandoes to reach the spot when the deaths were confirmed.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and other Congress leaders of the latest details at 7 Race Course Road.

Rescue operation
Search operations to locate the missing chopper carrying Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy resumed in the Nallamala forest region at 6:30 am on Thursday.

The whereabouts of YSR remained unknown on Wednesday after his helicopter went missing while flying over the state's Naxalite stronghold of Kurnool.

A 5-km radius area in the Nallamala forests in Andhra Pradesh from where the missing helicopter carrying Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy made the last contact to Air Traffic Control has been identified, Union Minister Prithviraj Chavan said today.

IAF's Sukhoi 30MK1 aircraft with synthetic aperture radar for high resolution ground mapping and a pilotless low-flying ISRO aircraft scoured the thick Nallamala forests in Kurnool district to locate the missing chopper with five persons, including two pilots, on board.

"By triangulation, we have located the area which is about 5-km raidus circle and it has been identified based on the last contact with the Air Traffic Control," Chavan, the Union Minister of State in the PMO, told reporters.

"They (people on board the chopper) were carrying about five cell phones and so whenever a cell phone passes through a tower it will register and with best help from BSNL, we will identify the area," Chavan, who along with Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily rushed here last night, said.

"We are sparing no efforts whatsoever. We have deployed everything what we have got, airforce, state police, air-surveillance, satellite imagery and remote-sensing aircraft have been taking photos. Everything has been put into service," Chavan said.