Andhra Pradesh CM dead in chopper crash: PMO sources

NEW DELHI: Prime Ministers Office declared on Thursday that Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy died in an air
crash.

Five bodies were found at the site where Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy chopper’s wreckage has been traced.

The helicopter carrying YSR Reddy, two of his staff and two pilots went missing in pouring rain Wednesday morning over the Naxal and tiger-infested Nalamalla forests.

The government on Thursday confirmed that Nearly 24 hours after YSR's chopper went missing, it was located atop Serai Salem hill, at a distance 40 nautical miles (70 kms) east of Kurnool.

The CM left Hyderabad on a six-seater Bell chopper at 8.35am for Chittoor accompanied by his secretary and chief security officer. After 9.27am, radio contact was lost with the helicopter.

Soon after the chopper lost contact, multiple agencies of the state launched a massive hunt for possible wreckage in the desolate terrain. By evening, it expanded into the country's biggest-ever search operation with satellites in the sky joining remote sensing aircraft
, fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles, troops on the ground and even barefoot deer-hunting tribals with bows and arrows.