No trace of missing chopper in Chhattisgarh

Raipur: Two Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters and a Chhattisgarh police surveillance chopper failed to trace a missing private chopper with four crew on board despite extensive search for the second day Tuesday. The Ran Air chopper was scheduled to land at Jagdalpur in Bastar district headquarters for refuelling Sunday en route to Raipur but it went missing after taking off from Hyderabad at about 2 p.m.
Officials now suspect the chopper might have crashed amid heavy rains somewhere in Maoist-dominant forested areas of the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Orissa states.
“We did our best to locate the chopper but unfortunately it has remained traceless,” D.S Mishra, one of the pilots of the search and rescue team, told IANS Tuesday.
The missing helicopter had on board four people - a pilot, co-pilot, an engineer and a technician.
05/08/08 IANS/Thaindian.com, Thailand

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