HYDERABAD: Bad climate played the villain in the death of Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy. The Bell 430 helicopter in which he was travelling to Chittoor crashed into the top of a hillock in deep forests of Nallamala when the pilots tried to avoid certain clouds for clear visibility. The charred bodies of Rajasekhara Reddy, two Government officials and two pilots were located on the cap of a hillock in a decomposed state. One of the five Army helicopters indulged in search operations since morning, located the Bell 430 wreckage on the hillock which is about 10 km away from Rudrakodur village in Kurnool district. The State-owned chopper was blown into bits and pieces strewn all over the top of hillock covered with dense bushes and trees.
The preliminary reports confirmed by the officials suggest that the pilots tried to avoid certain clouds in their flight path for clear visibility and took a detour during which they lost track of the regular flight path. Chief Secretary P Ramakanth Reddy said that the chopper deviated from the regular flight path by 18 km towards east. The Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) fitted to the helicopter did not transmitt any signals even after the crash resulting delay in locating the helicopter wreckage.
Five Army helicopter were flown from Atmakur village in Kurnool to search the missing copter at 6.25 this morning. One of the Army choppers located the missing Bell 430 on the top of hillock at 8.30 a.m. and informed the ground control. As the place was hostile covered with dense bushes and trees, the Army helicopters failed to land near the spot. Later, commandos were airdropped at the place with difficulty and conducted a reconnaissance of the place.
The commondos found three decomposed charred bodies near the wreckage. The remaining two bodies were found a few feet away from the crash site. The officials had difficulty in identifying the bodies as they got burnt beyond recognition due to explosion of the chopper.