YSR's chopper missing: NSA rules out Naxal hand

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy's chopper went missing while he was on his way from Karnool to Chittoor. Reddy was accompanied by his Principal Secretary S Subramanyam and Chief Security Officer ASC Wesley. There were two pilots also on board the twin-engined Bell 430 helicopter that lost contact at 0935 hrs IST with the Air Traffic Controller at the Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad when it was headed for Chittoor district, about 600 kilometres from Hyderabad.
Army, Indian Air Force (IAF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, Andhra Police Greyhound commandos along with local police and district officials have launched a massive search and rescue operation for Rajasekhara Reddy in the densely forested area which is also a Naxal-stronghold.
CNN-IBN spoke to National Security Advisor MK Narayanan to know about the latest developments in the search opearation.
CNN-IBN: What is the latest you getting from Hyderabad?
MK Narayanan: We have been very worried since we first learnt that the contact with the helicopter has been lost in the morning. Since then we have done utmost apart from what the state government has been doing to find the individuals and the helicopter.
We are using all the available resources in the search.
We are hoping they would come back with some images by later tonight (Wednesday night) or at least by tomorrow (Thursday) early morning.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has also sent a low flying aircraft into the region; they have also picked up some images. Hopefully by tomorrow (Thursday) morning one of our satellites in the region will take pictures.
Meanwhile, as it has already been explained by other people, the forces in the ground are also looking for the possibilities with which we can find the helicopter or the individuals. For the moment we are keeping our fingers crossed that there would be a miraculous escape in this case.
CNN-IBN: You are mentioning that lack of communication is a major problem there but at this moment can you rule out that there could have been a technical snag or a pilot error or a Naxals strike that might have got the helicopter down?
MK Narayanan: For the first two I can say yes but I would completely rule out the probability of a Naxal strike. Though anything is possible, I don't think the Naxals have the capability to bring down a helicopter.
02/09/09 CNN-IBN

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Sep 2009, Safety Sep 2009