Chhattisgarh govt chopper wreck found; crew dead

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Jabalpur, July 18 (UNI) The wreckage of the Chhattisgarh Government helicopter 'Maina', which lost contact with ATC about half-an-hour after taking off from Bhopal on Saturday, has been found in Madhya Pradesh's tribal-dominated and naxalism-affected Balaghat district.

The remains of Captain A S Siddu, Pilot Vikram Savekar, Engineer Amitabh Soni and Senior Technician Manish -- who were aboard the ill-fated Raipur-bound chopper -- were sent to Raipur by ambulance this evening after post mortem at a hospital in Balaghat's Lanji tahsil.

''The crash site is a densely-forested hilly area near Mohal Khurda village, about 30 km from Lanji. Relative distances are 170 km from Raipur, 550 km from Bhopal, 104 km from Rajnandgaon and 295 km from here. For the past four days, IAF, Madhya Pradesh goverment helicopters, police, Hawk Force, CRPF and Forest department officials were conducting a search,'' DIG (Balaghat Range) G Janardan told UNI after returning from Mohal Khurda.

The officer explained that village official Pahad Singh's dogs found out the bodies yesterday afternoon. He alerted police in the evening.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh announced solatium of Rs 10 lakh and a job each to the families of the crew.

Making a suo moto statement in the Assembly today, he said one member from each of the affected families would be provided government job as per qualifications and eligibility. ''All the four crew will be cremated with full state honours,'' the Chief Minister added.

(Eds: Pl pick up suitably from earlier series.) UNI

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