Updated on
Summary
Anxiety in government and Congress circles is growing even as seven helicopters, including four from the Indian Air Force, are on desperate search and rescue mission for the helicopter carrying Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, which has been missing since 9.27am on Wednesday. The CM left Hyderabad on a six-seater Bell chopper at 8.35am for Chittoor accompanied by his secretary and chief security officer. After 9.27am, radio contact was lost with the helicopter. This was when the chopper entered the thickly forested, Naxalite-infested Nallamalla hill range. The heavy rain and zero visibility in the Nalamlla forest, an extension of Eastern Ghats, is making the search operations difficult, officials said. Large parts of the forest are also flooded because of the overflowing Srisailam reservoir. Officials also said that the met department's predictions for the day included heavy rain and lightning.
