Sep

3

YSR Reddy, Andhra CM, dies in helicopter crash

September 3, 2009 posted by indiatime |

“…Lord! It’s a miracle! Man up and vanished like a fart in the wind!
It’s a conspiracy! That’s what this is! It’s one big damn conspiracy! And everyone’s in on it! Including her!…”
- Samuel Norton (warden) - The Shawshank Redemption (by Stephen King)

The chief executive officer of one of the largest states in the nation has now gone missing for well over 24 hours. And so far, the police, the army, the airforce, the border security force, the greyhound commandos, unmanned drones, private search missions, satellites, bhuvan, have all been unsuccessful at finding YSR Reddy, the missing chief minister. The search that had originally focused on a a few thousand square kilometer area, has now been narrowed down to about 60-70 square kilometers.

What is astounding is that there hasn’t been any communication with the missing group. It’s obvious that the radio signals from the helicopter is the best pointer to the last known location, and the cellphones carried by the missing could only help in pinpointing the last location where the phones were still able to communicate with the nearby towers.

But an altogether lack of any type of communication raises some serious concerns and potentially very ominous possibilities:

1. the missing party of people might have met with a serious accident, their helicopter going down into a thick wooded area, with some fatalities or serious casualties whereby the members of the party are either unconscious if at all still living or are all dead.

2. The missing helicopter might have crashed into a lake or a water reservoir, drowning the occupants. Such a scenario has already been speculated on account of some eyewitness accounts from near the Shri Shailam project. It is considered less likelier than a crash landing or an emergency landing into the woods.

3. The missing helicopter might have crashed or force-landed into a forest, but the survivors may be in danger of attack by tigers from around the area. The area is host to the famous ‘operation tiger’ sanctuary.

4. the missing helicopter might have gone down into a wooded area, but the survivors might have been captured by local Maoist/naxalite terrorists and may have been whisked away outside the search perimeter and taken to an unknown location. Such a scenario can play out and evolve into a ransom situation where release of some prisoners would be bargained for, or the captured party may be exchanged with another group of captors - perhaps a more radical group like lashkar-e-toiba. This scenario, if true, will not play out soon, because the kidnappers will need some time to get the captured to a secret location.

Who might the terrorists ask in return for safely exchanging a missing chief minister and his officers? Well, there is no shortage of high-value exchange prisoners with Mohammad Ajmal Kasab (26/11 Mumbai attacks surviving gunman), Afzal Guru (convicted parliament terror attack mastermind), Safdar Nagori (imprisoned chief of SIMI - Students Islamic Movement of India), etc.

4. the missing party may all be okay, just minimally injured but unconscious and unable to move because of minor injuries and fractures, etc.

The picture will be a lot clearer as will be the weather by the end of today. Until then, YSR’s supporters, opponents, fans, and his bosses in Delhi will all be praying for his safety.

9 am India time update:
The helicopter wreckage has been found near Rollapenta, about 40 nautical miles east of Kurnool. Two helicopters of the Indian military are said to be hovering over the scene.

11am India time update:
Five bodies have been found at the wreckage site and YSR Reddy, the popular chief minister of the state of Andhra Pradesh, has been confirmed killed in the crash.


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8 Comments so far

  1. vishal on September 3, 2009 8:43 am

    Very surprising and distrubing that with all the jets and helicopters sweeping the area, there is no detecting the missing chopper? I don’t like the way this is turning out.

  2. Archana on September 3, 2009 11:08 am

    Deepest condolences to the chief minister’s family and friends.

  3. Maron on September 3, 2009 11:13 am

    YSR Reddy’s death is a blow to India and a blow to our state. He was young, dynamic and very popular. The helicopter company owners should be brought to justice.

  4. manjit on September 3, 2009 11:15 am

    very shocking. very sad. my deepest condolences to the family.

  5. Veerendra on September 3, 2009 11:20 am

    The crash is because of the bad weather. It was nothing to do with the helicopter company. The crash was on the Rudrakot hills in some very severe weather.

  6. deepu on September 3, 2009 11:30 am

    Interesting post and interesting conspiracy theories. The crash outlook was the most likeliest I guess, considering that the weather was pretty bad. Since the weather was bad from very early morning yesterday, how is that the helicopter journey was approved? It’s quite unfortunate.

  7. SachinParekh on September 8, 2009 11:55 am

    Condolences to the chief minister’s family and friends. Helicopter pre-checks need to be improved to ensure that it is ‘healthy’ to fly.

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