IAF may send fighter aircraft to trace missing Ranbaxy helicopter

The Indian Air Force may deploy a fighter aircraft fitted with an advanced radar to locate the missing Ranbaxy helicopter taken on lease by the Chhattisgarh government, which remained untraceable three days after taking off from Hyderabad airport.

IAF Chief Fali H Major said four IAF choppers were given to the authorities in Chhattisgarh to trace the missing helicopter with two pilots and an equal number of technical staff on board.

"We are now thinking of sending a fighter aircraft with a radar to pick up hot spots on the ground," the Air Chief Marshal told reporters on the sidelines of a function.

"We have given them four choppers. Yesterday, they carried out a search. Even today, they are searching," he said.

The missing copter Bell-430 took off from Hyderabad at 3 pm on Sunday and was supposed to land at the regional headquarters of Bastar at Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh at 4.30 pm for refueling. However, the copter never landed at Jagdalpur.

All contacts with the helicopter were lost at about 4 pm and since then its whereabouts are not known to either Andhra Pradesh or Chhattisgarh, Chhattisgarh's Director General of Police Vishwaranjan said in Raipur.

Ground forces have also failed to gather any information about the missing copter although an alert had been flashed to all the bordering police stations of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, he said.

The search operation was cancelled yesterday due to inclement weather.

The Ranbaxy copter was hired by the Chhattisgarh government to take Home Minister Ram Vichar Netam from Raipur to neighbouring Jharkhand on Sunday.