Rijiju's chopper makes emergency landing at Hindon base

A helicopter carrying union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju made an emergency landing at the Hindon airbase near Delhi shortly after take-off from Safdarjung airport here on Tuesday, sources said.

Ajay Kumar, the press information officer of the Border Security Force (BSF), told IANS that the force's Mi-17 V5 chopper took off around 11.30 a.m. from Safdarjung to go to Tehri in Uttarakhand.

"The pilot suddenly saw a warning light showing sudden rise in temperature of the gearbox. As it could have caused an accident, the pilot made an emergency landing at the Hindon airbas around 12.30 p.m. as a precautionary measure," Kumar told IANS.

Rijiju was travelling with his own staff in the helicopter.

"The minister was later provided another helicopter to continue his journey. All the crew members are safe," said the official.

The BSF's mechanical department was trying to find out the cause behind the fault in the chopper, he added.

In December 2015, nine BSF troopers and a Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) co-pilot were killed when a chartered plane flying to Ranchi crashed in Delhi soon after take-off.