By IANS,
Itanagar: Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V. Narayanasamy Sunday said a formal statement with authenticated information on the missing helicopter carrying Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu would be made in the evening.
“We would be able to make a statement by 5-5.30 p.m. with some concrete information about the missing helicopter,” the minister told journalists after emerging from a marathon three-hour meeting with the entire state cabinet and top civil and police officials.
Narayanasamy, who is also minister of state for personnel, public grievances and pensions and the Prime Minister’s Office, and union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Mukul Wasnik arrived in Itanagar Sunday afternoon on the directive of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to oversee and monitor the search operations.
“So far there is no information about the helicopter and bad weather has hampered aerial surveys. We are in constant touch with the Bhutan government and trying to locate exactly where the helicopter could have landed,” the minister said.
The Pawan Hans AS350 B-3 helicopter carrying the chief minister and four others went missing after it took off from Tawang at 9.50 a.m. Saturday. The last radio contact with the ground was about 20 to 20 minutes after take off as it flew over the Sela Pass along the Chinese border, at an altitude of 13,700 feet.
The Indian Air Force Sunday morning began search operations to locate the missing helicopter even as Indian and Bhutanese soldiers too launched a massive operation to track down the chopper.
An MI-17 and two Cheetah helicopters were pressed into service Sunday morning, but the search was abandoned due to bad weather.
“Two satellites from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) had taken imageries of the area and we hope to get their report by this evening and this could provide us vital clues,” adviser to the chief minister Kiren Rijiju told IANS.
Meanwhile, two Sukhoi-30 aircraft from a base in Bareilly completed aerial mapping over Arunachal Pradesh in an attempt to get definite clues about the missing helicopter.
“The two Sukhois completed aerial mapping and have since landed in their base. The images would be analysed and then we expect something concrete,” Likha Saaya, a ruling Congress party MLA, told IANS.
A sense of despondency prevails in Arunachal Pradesh.
“We are hoping against hope now to get some news about the helicopter and its occupants. Prayers are being held in all the Buddhist monasteries for some good news,” Congress MLA from Tawang Tsewang Dhondup told IANS.
The helicopter is a single-engine chopper. In case of an engine failure, there are very slim chances of the helicopter making a safe landing.
The incident comes just days after another Pawan Hans helicopter crashed in Tawang April 19, killing 17 people and injuring six.