Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister K. Rosaiah officially broke the news that Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s helicopter remained untraceable and that several helicopters from Hyderabad, Bangalore and Nellore were scouring the Nallamala forest area in the State.
Mr. Rosaiah disclosed at a press conference after a meeting with other Ministers, Chief Secretary P. Ramakanth Reddy, Director General of Police S. S. P. Yadav that there was no radio contact with the Chief Minister's party from 9.35 a.m. on Wednesday.
Significantly, the Finance Minister and the Chief Secretary issued an appeal to the people, including the Chenchus, hill tribes of Nallamala forests, to inform the nearest police station or the forest authorities in case they came across any evidence of the Chief Minister's party.
There was poor visibility due to heavy rain making it difficult to conduct search operations. They said three Indian Air Force helicopters from Bangalore, two from Hakimpet near Hyderabad, a private helicopter from Krishnapatam Port in Nellore district and the State Government's helicopter had joined the search operations.
The Defence Ministry has been requested to press into service an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to help in locating the helicopter.
The Chief Minister's helicopter is believed to have landed in the vicinity of the dense Nallamala forest straddling five districts - Kurnool, Mahabubnagar, Prakasam, Guntur and Nalgonda. Police parties from Kurnool and Prakasam have been despatched to the Nallamala forests to take up search operations as the area is known to be prone to heavy naxalite activity.
According to Mr. R. K. Singla, Director, Airports Authority of India, Hyderabad, the Chief Minister's helicopter took off at 8.38 a.m. from Begumpet airport and, soon after, established radio contact with the nearby Shamshabad airport. It remained in contact with Shamshabad for some time before the pilot spoke to the Air Traffic Control in Chennai at 9.02 am. through high frequency radio.
The Chennai ATC asked the pilot to contact it again at 9.30 but this did not happen. However, the State Government gave a slightly different version stating that the Chief Minister's entourage was in touch with till 9.35 a.m.
