2.5.11

Arunachal on edge as CM untraced





Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu’s fate was uncertain for the second day on Sunday. Two Sukhoi-30 aircraft flew in from Bareilly for aerial mapping for clues and Isro was roped in, but there was no trace of the Pawan Hans helicopter that vanished with four others onboard on Saturday. Six IAF helicopters flew sorties over Tawang and Bhutanese air space and thousands of security personnel combed the area on Sunday but an air of despondency hung over Arunachal Pradesh. Bhutan is sending 15 more teams to aid the search effort after foreign minister S M Krishna’s request for support to Bhutanese PM Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley on Sunday. Krishna told Thinley that India will need more teams to go into the area and also carry rations since the region has least human habitation. ‘‘The last contact between the helicopter and Tawang ATC was at 10.10am on Saturday. The pilot said he had crossed Sela Pass so there is no chance of them entering China,’’ said power minister Jarbom Gamlin. Pawan Hans said the copter has emergency locator transmitter which emits signal on heavy impact which can be picked up by Isro satellites. The Army, SSB, ITBP along with state police and the National Disaster Response Force, Delhi, have been roped in to launch a massive ground search operation.

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