Ch'garh: Search continues for missing helicopter

Raipur, July 16: Two Indian Air Force helicopters and a chopper of the Madhya Pradesh government were engaged in search on the second day today to trace the Chhattisgarh government's helicopter, which went missing with four people on board on Saturday afternoon.

Captain D S Mishra of the Aviation department said an IAF chopper took off from Gorakhpur while two helicopters were on way to Balaghat- Mandla areas, which falls in the air route from Bhopal to Raipur where the helicopter appeared to have gone missing.

Police personnel had to rush to few villages on the border of Mandla and Dindori districts in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh following rumours about the 'wreckage' being found in a reservoir, but night long search operations turned futile.

Meanwhile, official sources said all police stations, Gram Panchayat sarpanchs and Kotwars (village watchmen) in three states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and areas bordering Maharashtra have been directed to carryout intensive search in their respective areas. However, search operations at the ground level is apparently facing difficulties because of dense forests and presence of Maoist rebels in areas in Balaghat and Mandla districts of Madhya Pradesh.

The EC-135 helicopter, with Captain A S Siddu and pilot Vikram Savekar and two engineers of the state aviation department, took off from the airport at Bhopal at 1130 hours on Saturday. The helicopter went missing after 1225 hours.

UNI

Related Stories

Chhattisgarh: Missing chopper yet to be traced
>