Indian Air force teams resumed their search operations this morning to locate the missing Pawan Hans AS350 B-3 helicopter that had taken off from Tawang at 9.50 am on Saturday. It lost communication with the ground after it flew past the Sela Pass along the Chinese border about 20 to 25 minutes later.
"There is no confirmation or news about the helicopter. There has been no direct contact with any of the five people on board and we really don't know any details as of now," Arunachal MP Takam Sanjay said. "The fact of the matter is we don't know yet where the helicopter is," he added.
The helicopter was scheduled to land in Itanagar at 11.30 am on Saturday. Several media reports on Saturday afternoon quoted Arunachal Pradesh Governor Gen (retd) JJ Singh and the state Chief Secretary and said that the helicopter had landed safely somewhere in eastern Bhutan adjoining Tawang district and that the same helicopter was flying back to Guwahati with the Chief Minister on board.
Bhutan, however, later denied that any Indian helicopter had landed in its territory, but said a search operation was launched following request from New Delhi.
"We have also heard through the media about the helicopter landing in Bhutan, but we don't have any reports of an Indian helicopter landing in our territory. But we have deployed troops and local villagers to see if any helicopter had landed here," S Duba, Deputy Commissioner of Trashiyangtse district in Bhutan, said.
"Ground search operations and aerial missions are on in the remote areas along the flying route," a senior Arunachal Pradesh government official said.
The search operations to locate the missing helicopter had been called off late on Saturday evening due to bad weather.
"We have suspended our rescue and search operations for the day due to bad weather but we will resume it tomorrow (Sunday) again," IAF spokesman Ranjeeb Sahoo had said.
Apart from Khandu, the people on board included crew members Captain JS Babbar and Captain KS Malick, Khandu's security officer Yeshi Choddak and Yeshi Lamu, sister of Tawang legislator Tsewang Dhondup.
The Indian government is in constant touch with Bhutan to find out about the missing chopper.
"We are in constant touch with the central government (of Bhutan) at the highest level. Initially we are also told the chopper had landed in Bhutan, but now there are conflicting reports coming in," Takam Sanjay said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to the Arunachal Pradesh Governor on Saturday and enquired about the incident. He was briefed by National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon about the search operations being carried out.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi also spoke to Dorjee's wife and son, party spokesman Tom Vadakkan said.
The missing helicopter, AS350 B-3, is a single-engine chopper. In case of an engine failure, there are very slim chances of the helicopter making a safe landing.
Pawan Hans has denied allegations that it was operating a fleet of old choppers in the region, and said the helicopter that carried Dorjee was only four months old and was on the VIP service.
The incident came just days after another Pawan Hans helicopter crashed in Tawang, killing 17 people and injuring six others.
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