Arunachal Pradesh CM still missing; no trace in Bhutan yet

Itanagar, May 1: Snubbing all confusions over Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu's where-about, the state government resumed its search operation for the second day on Sunday, May 1.

To trace the exact location of the missing Pawan Hans AS350 B-3 helicopter, a team of Indian Air Force started their rescue work in the wee hours of Sunday. The chopper had taken off from Tawang at 9:50 am on Saturday with the CM and four other members on board.

Soon after the "missing" report, some media reports quoted Arunachal Pradesh Governor Gen (retd) JJ Singh and the state Chief Secretary as saying that the CM and the chopper are safe as it landed safely at Daporijo near Bhutan's border.

However, the search operation has been resumed when Bhutan government dismissed all speculations as stating, "We have also heard through the media about the helicopter landing in Bhutan, but we don't have any reports of an Indian helicopter landing in our territory. But we have deployed troops and local villagers to see if any helicopter had landed here."

Arunachal Pradesh state government spokesperson also informed, "We are in constant touch with the central government (of Bhutan) at the highest level. Initially we are also told the chopper had landed in Bhutan, but now there are conflicting reports coming in."

Sources also informed that as the missing helicopter, AS350 B-3, is a single-engine chopper, there are very slim chances of the helicopter making a safe landing if it's an case of engine-failure.

OneIndia News