The Indian Army and the Royal Bhutan Army were focusing on rugged, snow-clad terrain at 13,700 feet in Dirang circle in West Kameng district for the helicopter carrying Arunachal CM Dorjee Khandu which remained missing for the fourth day on Tuesday, as aerial search was cancelled because of heavy rains.
Satellite images from RISAT-2 reportedly traced a few metal parts in the area, which may be parts of a helicopter, government spokesperson Jarbom Gamlin said.
The ground search was being made by 3000 personnel from the Indian Army, ITBP and SSB with the assistance of the state police, Defence sources said.Two IAF MI-17 choppers took off from Tawang in the morning, but had to return from Sela Pass because of thick haze over the mountains.Four MI-17 choppers were stationed at Tezpur for search operations if the weather improved, Defence spokesman N N Joshi said.
“The search was based on the imagery from ISRO and aerial mapping by Sukhoi fighters from Bareilly,” Lok Sabha member Takam Sanjay, who is heading a high-level team at Dirang to monitor the rescue and search operations, said when asked about the detection of an ‘aircraft-like something on the ground.
A Pawan Hans chopper was stationed at Dirang, he said. There were 50 commands at the disposal of the team, whose other members were State RD Minister Takar Marde and DIGP (Intelligence) Anil Sukhla.
Meanwhile, the crisis management committee has been meeting twice to monitor the situation and was being attended by central ministers V Narayansamy and Mukul Wasnik, AICC general secretary Dr Dhaniram Shandil and secretary Sanjay Bapan.
Sanjay was critical of the poor telecommunication services in the area and asked the state’s BSNL general manager to improve the system.