NEW DELHI: Government on Saturday night alerted the Department of Space and ISRO for help in locating the whereabouts of the missing helicopter carrying Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu and four others.
Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said that Indian satellites have made two passes over the probable area from where the Pawan Hans helicopter went missing 20 minutes after takeoff from Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh but has not picked up any signals.
He said Pawan Hans helicopter carries a a location transponder that can communicate at 406 MHz frequency in the event of any emergency or it could also be manually operated.
The chopper was last in communication with the base when it was overflying Sela Pass, 20 minutes after taking off from Tawang, and all communication was lost after that.
There was confusion in the afternoon with claims made by Governor Gen (retd) J J Singh first and then by the chief minister's office and defence spokesperson that the chief minister had landed safely in a place called Daporijo in Upper Subansiri district. The CM's office said the helicopter had landed in a place in Bhutan.
The five on board included crew members Captain J S Babbar and Captain K S Malick, Khandu's security officer Yeshi Choddak and Yeshi Lamu, sister of Tawang MLA Tsewang Dhondup.
Pillai alos said that depending upon the weather tomorrow morning IAF helicopters from Dibrugarh and Jorhat will carry out aerial recee.
Earlier, in the April 19 incident, a Pawan Hans helicopter crashed in the mountains of Tawang, bordering Tibet, killing 17 people. The helicopter crashed not far away from the helipad and the DGCA had found that proper fire-fighting facilities could have saved lives.
Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said that Indian satellites have made two passes over the probable area from where the Pawan Hans helicopter went missing 20 minutes after takeoff from Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh but has not picked up any signals.
He said Pawan Hans helicopter carries a a location transponder that can communicate at 406 MHz frequency in the event of any emergency or it could also be manually operated.
The chopper was last in communication with the base when it was overflying Sela Pass, 20 minutes after taking off from Tawang, and all communication was lost after that.
There was confusion in the afternoon with claims made by Governor Gen (retd) J J Singh first and then by the chief minister's office and defence spokesperson that the chief minister had landed safely in a place called Daporijo in Upper Subansiri district. The CM's office said the helicopter had landed in a place in Bhutan.
The five on board included crew members Captain J S Babbar and Captain K S Malick, Khandu's security officer Yeshi Choddak and Yeshi Lamu, sister of Tawang MLA Tsewang Dhondup.
Pillai alos said that depending upon the weather tomorrow morning IAF helicopters from Dibrugarh and Jorhat will carry out aerial recee.
Earlier, in the April 19 incident, a Pawan Hans helicopter crashed in the mountains of Tawang, bordering Tibet, killing 17 people. The helicopter crashed not far away from the helipad and the DGCA had found that proper fire-fighting facilities could have saved lives.
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