24 hours later: Chopper mangled and burnt

It was exactly 24 hours later that the first sighting came of the chief minister's chopper at 8:30 am on Thursday morning on top of a hill in the Nallamalla forests in Andhra Pradesh.

And from the air it was clear to the Indian Air force pilots in seconds everyone's worst fears had come true.

YSR's chopper had changed course at Kurnool going east presumably to avoid bad weather and this may have been the fatal mistake. Atmakaru where the pilot veered is a hilly area.

Not clear yet what happened here but indications are that in low visibility the pilot could have hit the hill. The chopper is completely mangled, burnt and shattered to pieces, only bit found intact was the tailpiece.

Rescue choppers couldn't land here and commandoes had to slide down ropes.

Initially only the bodies of three people could be found and the impact was so strong that two bodies were thrown away from the wreckage.

Commandoes had to winch up each body one by one.

And it took an entire day after wreckage was first spotted to take the bodies back to Hyderabad - to a grieving city where thousands poured into the streets, a testimony to the mass appeal of the chief minister and grieving families paralysed by shock and trauma.