IAF helicopter goes missing in Arunachal Pradesh

Minister of State in Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju's chopper earlier today made an emergency landing in Itanagar due to bad weather.

Indian Air Force's Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) on Tuesday went missing in Sagalee area of Arunachal Pradesh's Papumpare district.

A search operation has been launched to search the missing helicopter.

"The weather is turbulent in North-East. I'm safe but whole State machinery geared up to locate IAF ALH chopper that went missing almost at same time," MoS Home Kiren Rijiju said.

"Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu and the state government are mobilizing local people to locate missing IAF helicopter which was on a rescue mission in Arunachal Pradesh," he added.

Earlier, Rijiju's chopper made an emergency landing on Tuesday in Itanagar due to bad weather.

The Mi-17 helicopter with Rijiju and seven other passengers and crew members on board was flying from Guwahati to Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh when it faced heavy rains and fog this afternoon. He was travelling to Ziro to attend the Dree harvest festival.

Incessant heavy rain in Arunachal Pradesh since the past two days has thrown life out of gear in the state by triggering landslides, damaging houses and roads and hitting basic essential services. The capital town of Itanagar has been cut off from the rest of the country due to landslides on NH 52 A.

OneIndia News