Hopes recede but govt says no conclusion on Khandu's fate

Itanagar/New Delhi, May 3 (PTI) Hopes of Chief Minister
of north eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh Dorjee
Khandu being alive were receding fast on Tuesday, three days
after his helicopter went missing and suspectedly crashed, but
the government said it had reached no conclusion as the search
was continuing.
Some metallic objects have been sighted at a place in
Bhutan, several kilometers from Sela Pass where the helicopter
lost contact, and search parties comprising 3,000 personnel
from the Army, Border Roads Organisation, Indo-Tibetan Border
Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Arunachal Pradesh
Police were trying to reach there.
Nearly 300 ITBP personnel on Tuesday fanned out on foot
heading towards a place five km inside Bhutan and for Nagajiji
near the windy Sela Pass to track the missing helicopter.
The aerial search was called off for the day because
of bad weather.
"According to inputs from the Arunachal government, local
people have sighted something like an aircraft inside Bhutan.
It's about five km inside Bhutan from the border. Having got
the clearance from Bhutanese authorities, one of our teams
started on foot this morning," ITBP IG M S Bhurji told PTI.
A small team of Army is on the stand-by to be inducted in
the area by helicopter wherever the wreckage is spotted.
"We have not come to any conclusion. Unless and until the
search group gives any kind of report, we will not come to any
conclusion. We cannot come to any conclusion," Minister of
State in the PMO V Narayanasamy told reporters in Itanagar
when asked about the fate of Khandu.
Hopes of Khandu being alive are receding fast as there
has been no information about him after his helicopter lost
contact at around 10.20 AM on Saturday while flying over Sela
Pass in Arunachal.
Giving details of the search operation, he said some
metallic objects have been sighted 12 kms away from Sela Pass
and "that area is being concentrated upon and the locals have
been asked to cooperate."
Narayanasamy, who is camping here to oversee search
operations, said specially-trained personnel of Army, Border
Roads Organisation and ITBP are trying to reach the identified
location which is a difficult and inaccessible terrain.
Emphasising that the central government was according
top priority to the search operation, he said all means are
being employed to find the Chief Minister and others.
Army said in Delhi that ISRO, whose satellites have been
trying to track the missing helicopter, has provided certain
inputs on possible locations and "deep search of these
locations is under progress".
Sources said the Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) satellites have found presence of metallic objects 2.5
kms inside Bhutan, making the government to believe that the
helicopter had crashed.
Bhutan government has already allowed ITBP, SSB and
Arunachal Pradesh Police to enter its territory.
The sources said nothing was found at an earlier
location within a 66 sq km area in West Kameng district, where
the ISRO satellite imagery had found traces of several
metallic objects.
Government is ruling out any sabotage, arguing that
prior to losing contact, it was on flight for nearly two-and-a
half hours from Itanagar to Guwahati and then to Tawang before
undertaking the last flight.
An ITBP team from Dirang in East Kameng district in
Arunachal Pradesh started for Nagajiji near Sela Pass after
infra-red images from IAF Su30s detected an 'aircraft-like'
object.
"We have searched the Nagajiji area earlier, but this
time the search would be intense," Bhurji said.
It might take close to 10 hours for the men to reach
because of hazardous terrain and steep gradients about 14,000
ft above sea level with bad weather making the trek difficult.
Around 250 ITBP personnel have fanned out mostly around
the Sela Pass and another 60 men were likely to be deployed
soon, the IG said.
The force had launched and unsuccessful search in the
Lungthung area yesterday.
Satellite images from RISAT-2 reportedly traced a few
metal parts in the area, which may be parts of a helicopter,
Arunachal government spokesperson Jarbom Gamlin said.
Two IAF Mi-17 choppers took off from Tawang in the
morning and after a 45 minute sortie, they had to return from
Sela Pass because of thick haze over the mountains.
Four MI-17 choppers were stationed at Tezpur for search
operations if the weather improved, defence spokesman N N
Joshi said.
A Pawan Hans chopper was stationed at Dirang, he said.
Meanwhile, the crisis management committee has been
meeting twice to monitor the situation and was being attended
by central ministers Narayanasamy and Mukul Wasnik, AICC
general secretary Dhaniram Shandil and secretary Sanjay Bapan.