Dead bodies of all the five people including YSR Reddy, Principal Secretary S Subramanyam, Chief Security Officer ASC Wesley, Group Captain SK Bhatia and Captain MS Reddy have been recovered by the Army commandoes. Highly placed sources of the Congress party in Delhi have also confirmed that the bodies have been found.
The CM was to attend some party function in Chittoor. Accompanied by his secretary and chief security officer, Reddy left Hyderabad on a six-seater Bell chopper at 8.35 a.m. on Wednesday.
Helicopter went missing after losing radio contact
An army official informed that an hour after take-off from Hyderabad, radio contact with the helicopter was lost.
Thereafter, the helicopter carrying YSR Reddy went missing in heavy rains over the Naxal and tiger-infested Nalamalla forests on Wednesday morning.
Massive search operation
Soon after the news broke out, many state agencies had launched a massive hunt to track the missing helicopter. And by the evening, it became one of country’s biggest ever search operation wherein multiple search devices were used including satellites, remote sensing aircraft, fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles, and troops on the ground.
Even barefoot deer-hunting tribals with bows and arrows put in their mite to track down the missing helicopter carrying the state’s CM.
Earlier this morning, an Indian Air Force helicopter located the mangled remains of the missing helicopter on top of a hill about 40 nautical miles (74 km) east of Kurnool that was traced nearly after 24 hours.
YSR’s second term
The 60-year-old minister, who helped his Congress party win in Lok Sabha as well as in the assembly polls for a second term, was on his second consecutive term as the chief minister.
Despite a strong opposition alliance led by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Praja Rajyam floated by actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi, YSR could retain the power again due to the various developmental programmes undertaken by him.
Reddy wanted to launch 'Racchabanda' programme in the Anuppalle village of Chittoor district. "I want to know the problems in village through this surprise visit and want to have a direct interaction with the villagers.
"I told them (the officials) only at 5 a.m. that I will be visiting the village as they have to make security arrangements," YSR said in his last interview before boarding the helicopter here at 8.35 a.m. Wednesday.
