Missing pilot's kin hoping against hope

Patiala: Ten days after he along with his helicopter went missing in the forests of Chhatisgarh, known as the Naxal's hub, the kin of captain Rajesh, who belongs to this royal city, are still running from pillar to post to get any clue about the whereabouts of their missing son.
However, no official from the Punjab government or the Chattishgarh government has visited the aggrieved family till now.
Rajesh, who did his pilot training from the Patiala Aviation Club and joined "Ran Air' of Ranbaxy some time back, had left for Ranchi from Hyderabad at 3 pm on August 3 to take Rajnath Singh, president of BJP. The co-pilot was to land in Jagdalpur, 70 km from Ranchi, for refuelling his helicopter, however he went missing
"My brother Rajesh lost the ATC link with the authorities concerned due to bad weather around 3.25 pm after travelling around 50 km," Rajiv, the elder brother of the missing co-pilot told the Times of India.
Though family members and company colleagues of Rajesh have been requesting the Chattishgarh government to launch a search operation in the forests of the state, as the area is in the control of Naxals and could pose danger to Rajesh's life, but Chattisgarh state authorities have not deputed either armymen or CRPF officials for doing the same as yet.
14/08/08 Parvesh Sharma/Times of India

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Aug 2008, Safety Aug 2008