Two days on, Arunachal Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu's chopper yet to be found

Itanagar: Nearly 48 hours after a helicopter carrying Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and four other people went missing, the chopper is yet to be found. (Read: Who is Dorjee Khandu)

Massive search operations are on 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 area about 20 to 25 minutes later.

A two-member high-level Central team, including Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) V Narayanswamy and Union Minister Mukul Wasnik are in Itanagar to take stock of the situation and oversee the search operations.(Watch: No news on Khandu yet, says Narayanswamy)

Around 30 columns of the Indian Army comprising 2,400 personnel have been sent to different locations along the Indo-Bhutan border as part of ground search operation. Six ITBP teams with 25 personnel are also helping in the search. Inclement weather is however, affecting the aerial searches. (Read: Bad weather hampers search operations)

The crisis management group in Arunachal has been told by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) that it may provide some clues today, as satellite images from RISAT-2 are expected, and will be analysed. (Watch: ISRO roped in to trace Arunachal CM's chopper)

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"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.

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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. (Dorjee Khandu's missing chopper: What led to the confusion?)

"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, had said on Saturday evening.

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Apart from Khandu, the people on board include 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. (Search for Dorjee: Bhutan assures India all help)

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.

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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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(With inputs from Agencies)