The Centre on Wednesday evening feared the worst as search operations for Andhra chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy were abandoned after darkness fell, more than nine hours after the helicopter in which he was flying went missing in Naxal infested Nalamalla jungle area and lost contact with Hyderabad.
?We are keeping our fingers crossed. Our prayers are with Rajasekhara Reddy and his family,? union home minister P Chidambaram told reporters, while indicating much more than what had been said. Reddy?s chopper, a twin engine Bell 430 helicopter, owned by the state government took off from Begumpet airport at 8.40 am and was supposed to reach Chitoor district about an hour later. However, it lost contact with Air Traffic Control 9.35 am after encountering rough weather while flying over the Nalamalla forest range, which is a Naxal den.
The 59-year-old chief minister had led the Congress to an impressive second consecutive victory in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in May. The developing news led to immediate concern in the UPA government as well as the Congress party with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi personally monitoring the search opearations.
Chidambaram said that aerial search operations would be resumed immediately upon daylight on Thursday but added that search on foot by forest and revenue officials in and around the point where the helicopter was presumed to have lost contact would continue through the night. He said 5000 CRPF personnel had been pressed into the search and rescue operations even though the terrain was difficult due to the jungle and infested with Naxalites.
?I have advised the state government to continue the search even during the night with whatever light is available. Perhaps they would be able to do the search on for couple of hours,? he said. Army, Indian Air Force (IAF) and Andhra Police Greyhound commandos have also been pressed into service.
During the day, four Army helicopters recced the area to try and locate the helicopter carrying the chief minister. While three helicopters were brought in from Bangalore, the fourth was sent from Hyderabad. The IAF had pressed into service four helicopters including two Chetaks, one MI8 chopper and a Dhruv advanced light helicopter. An unmanned aerial vehicle was also deployed by the defence ministry. The chief minister was accompanied by his principal secretary S Subramanyam and chief security officer ASC Wesley.
Addresing a press conference in Hyderabad in the evening, state finance minister K Rosaiah confirmed that the govenrment was unable to locate the helicopter. The state government also appealed to people living in the concerned area to contribute in the search and inform about any sightings to the nearest police station.