Chhattisgarh seeks ISRO, Army help to trace missing chopper

Raipur, July 16 (UNI) The Chhattisgarh Government today sought help from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Army to carry out search in the dense forests to locate its helicopter ''Maina', which went missing with four people on board on Saturday afternoon.

Making a suo-motu statement in the Vidhan Sabha, Chief Minister Raman Singh said ISRO help was being sought to locate the helicopter using satellite imageries, while Army had been requested to depute its personnel to carry out search operations at the ground level.

Pointing out that two Air force choppers and a helicopter of the Madhya Pradesh Government were already engaged in search, he said no clue had been received so far about the helicopter.

The EC-135 helicopter, with Captain A S Siddhu and pilot Vikram Savekar, assistant engineer Amitabh Soni and senior technician Manish Badinia, took off from the airport at Bhopal at 1150 hours on Saturday.

Reacting to the statement, Leader of Opposition Mahendra Karma said the government must continue the search till the helicopter crew was located.

Meanwhile, police sources said an intensive search was being carried out in all the places on the air route from Bhopal to Raipur. Police, panchayat bodies, kotwars (village watchman) in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have asked the district collectors concerned to carry out search in their respective areas.

Rumours were agog yesterday evening about a 'wreckage' being found in a lake in Dindori district of Madhya Pradesh. Special search parties were sent last night itself but it could not be located.

UNI