By IANS,
Raipur : Twelve days after it went missing, a Chhattisgarh-bound private chopper is traceless after it took off from Hyderabad, police said Thursday. The chopper is suspected to have crashed in the Maoist-affected region of the state.
The Bell-430 Ran Air chopper was scheduled to land at Jagdalpur, the district headquarter of Bastar, for refuelling en route to Raipur but went missing. It had on board four people – a pilot, a co-pilot, an engineer and a technician.
“The search is on with some latest inputs that the chopper might have crashed at Bailadila hills in Dantewada district but no solid clue has been found as yet,” Rahul Sharma, district superintendent of police, told reporters.
Besides the Chhattisgarh police’s surveillance helicopter, two choppers of the Indian Air Force and two of Ran Air are also engaged in search operations.
The district authorities have announced a reward of Rs.100,000 to anyone providing information about the helicopter that was booked by the Chhattisgarh government.