By IANS,
Hyderabad : Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters Thursday resumed search operations for the helicopter carrying Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, nearly 24 hours after it went missing in the dense Nallamalla forests.
At the day break, at least five IAF helicopters resumed search operations while the army and police intensified the biggest-ever search operation, which has now narrowed down to five kilometres radius in Kurnool district where the chopper was last seen by some villagers.
The fate of the chief minister, his special secretary, chief security officer and two pilots remained uncertain even a day after the chopper went missing while flying from Hyderabad to Chittoor district.
With every passing hour, the anxiety is growing in the state government and ruling Congress party circles though they remain hopeful that YSR, as the chief minister is popularly known, is safe in some remote area.
Chief Secretary P. Ramakant Reddy told reporters that the satellite images captured by a low-flying aircraft of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) could not provide any clue about the missing chopper.
The authorities now hope to get some information from the images taken by two Sukhoi SU-30MKI combat jets of IAF which flew over the area last night.
Minister of state in Prime Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chavan and Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily rushed to Hyderabad late Wednesday to oversee search operations.
Chavan told reporters that the best of the technology available was being used to search the Andhra Pradesh chief minister.
“We have identified an area of five kilometre radius for search. We will drop troops in the area while helicopters will continue search and IAF aircrafts will fly low to take images,” he 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,” he said.
“We leave it to God to help us to get YSR and his team,” said a sombre looking Moily, who is also the incharge of Congress party affairs in the state . He said more helicopters and aircrafts would be pressed into service.
Meanwhile about 6,000 personnel belonging to army, paramilitary forces and state police along with employees of revenue and forest departments and civilians including tribals have been engaged in the search operations.
Since Nallamalla is a Maoist-infested area, elite Greyhounds force and the anti-terrorism force OCTOPUS have also been pressed into service. “We will get more land reinforcements from six districts and also Tamil Nadu,” said the chief secretary.
Air Commodore V.S. Bharati Thursday took over air search operations. He will be the overall incharge of the operations.
Land search operations are being monitored from Atmakur in Kurnool district where the missing chopper was last seen. Inspector general of police Rajiv Trivedi and principal chief conservator of forests Shiv Shankar Reddy are leading the operations.
Nearly a dozen state ministers have also reached Atmakur to oversee the search and rescue operations.