Search on, CM untraced

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Inclement weather and low visibility across Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday forced the Indian Air Force to call off its aerial search for the helicopter carrying state chief minister Dorjee Khandu, which went missing since Saturday. Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police jawans are, however, swarming all over the hilly terrain looking for any trace of the helicopter, but without any success.
The Air Force had initially planned to press two MI-17 helicopters from Tawang, IAF spokesman Rajeev Sahoo said, but “only one MI-17 managed to make two sorties from Tawang, returning due to bad weather.” The Arunachal government announced that aerial searches would resume on Monday morning.
On Saturday, satellites engaged in search operations had made two passes on Tawang but did not pick up any transponder signals. The satellites could not locate anything on Sunday morning either.
Two IAF Sukhoi fighter jets flew across the Tawang region in an attempt to pick up infrared signals, but failed to do so. The Indian Space Research Organisation released photographs taken by its satellites, but nothing could be spotted due to the heavy cloud cover.
In New Delhi, meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Sunday ordered suspension of all Pawan Hans helicopter operations in the Northeast as a precautionary measure. This was confirmed by top DGCA sources. Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd, in a statement on Sunday evening, also said it had “put on hold its commercial operations in the Northeast for the time being so that these helicopters are available for search and rescue, and the DGCA reviews the current situation”.
The Arunachal Pradesh government has formed a crisis management team headed by its chief secretary to coordinate search operations on the ground. Union minister V. Narayanasamy, who is camping in Itanagar, the state capital, told reporters: “We have not been able to get any clue so far. The defence ministry, the external affairs ministry and even the Prime Minister’s Office are coordinating search operations in consultation with (their) counterparts in Bhutan. We also tried to take the help of Isro, but could not get the photographs because of thick clouds in this area.”
Arunachal power minister Jarbom Gamlin said, however, that “Isro has picked up some signals. They are analysing the data and expect to release their findings after midnight.” Mr Gamlin noted that weather conditions were a key factor in the search, and added that local residents were also helping in searches on the ground.
ITBP spokesman Deepak Pandey said all ITBP border posts had sent out rescue teams in their respective areas, and these teams had been scouring the hilly terrain since 3.30 am on Sunday.
Bhutanese troops have also launched search operations to trace the missing helicopter. A Bhutan government spokesman said: “We have deployed troops and locals to track the Indian helicopter in our territory, but so far there is no information.”