India fears worst as rescue flight sights chopper wreckage

By Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN

The crashed helicopter carried Dorjee Khandu (C - file photo), the chief minister of India's remote Arunachal Pradesh state.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Helicopter was carrying Arunachal Pradesh state chief minister
Officials have yet to arrive at the site to identify bodies
Crash is in the same district where 17 people died in a crash in April

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Bhutan
India

New Delhi, India (CNN) -- An Indian rescue flight has sighted the wreckage of a helicopter carrying a top government leader in the country's mountainous northeast region, five days after it disappeared from radar, authorities said Wednesday.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters that the aerial survey also spotted bodies lying near the debris.

No government, police or army official has so far been able to arrive at the site, a difficult terrain that will require several hours of trekking by troops to reach, he said.

The helicopter, now believed crashed, carried Dorjee Khandu, the chief minister of India's remote Arunachal Pradesh state, and five other people on board.

Chidamabarm said villagers around the wreckage site identified at least two bodies. Three corpses, according to villagers, were charred beyond recognition, he added.

"I am afraid the news is grim and sad," the home minister remarked, citing information obtained from local people and from the emergency flight.

Arunachal Pradesh Civil Aviation Commissioner Hage Khoda told CNN that the debris had been spotted in the state's Tawang district, from where the helicopter had taken off on Saturday morning.

Earlier, authorities broadened their search for the missing chopper into neighboring Bhutan.

A district in the tiny neighboring kingdom was among three locations that satellites and jets zeroed in on looking for Khandu's helicopter after five days of operations.

"The government of Bhutan has deployed search teams on its side of the border," the Indian Home Ministry said in a statement earlier Wednesday.

Officials said search has been smooth except for interruptions because of bad weather.

At present, it involves 3,500 personnel, the Home Ministry said.

The helicopter carrying Khandu belonged to India's state-run Pawan Hans company. Authorities sounded an alert for it when it did not arrive for landing at Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday.

On April 20, at least 17 people were killed as a Pawan Hans helicopter caught fire upon landing in Tawang, officials said.