YSR chopper crash site secured; Maoist hand ruled out

Ahead of the visit of technical experts from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to probe the crash of the helicopter carrying late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy [ Images ] and four others, the site atop Pavurallagutta hillock has been surrounded and secured by a 30-member security team from the Greyhound force.
As the place, about 15 km way from the tribal hamlet of Rudrakodur, is highly inaccessible. The armed force has pitched three tents at the site. In the absence of any facility to cook food, these personnel will have to be content with packets of ready-to-eat food and packaged drinking water.
Officials said that securing the site had become necessary as parts of the crashed helicopter, belongings of the five passengers and various other clues were spread all over the place.
While crucial components like the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were recovered and taken away by the officials, the Emergency Locator Transmitter is yet to be found.
A team of CID, which has launched its own investigations, while scouring the site on Saturday came across some body parts of the victims, including a finger, a hand and internal parts spread around the place.
The team also gathered parts of the Bell-430 helicopter, including electronic chips, from the site that will be handed over to the four-member team constituted by the DGCA.
The team also recovered a coarse rice packet, a bag, a suitcase, a sealed cover with helicopter manual and a few books.
In view of suspicions of foul play or Maoist hand behind the crash, a bomb disposal squad also visited the site but did not find any clue or material to suggest that the helicopter was shot down using the rocket launcher or any other weapon. The suspicion arose as the police had recovered huge stockpile of rocket launchers from the Naxalites [ Images ] in this region about couple of years ago.
However, sources said bomb disposal experts did not find any such indication and ruled out the use of rocket launcher.
The team found a burnt patch on the ground spread over 25 to 30 square meters suggesting that the helicopter had exploded in flames after it crashed on the hillock. As the helicopter's tank was loaded with fuel sufficient for two hours flight, it exploded on impact.
Kurnool district collector Mukesh Kumar Meena has said that the administration was fully geared up to extend full cooperation to the DGCA panel when it undertakes the visit to the site. The panel has asked the administration to hand over everything, which was recovered from the site of the crash, and also provide the video clippings of the site and other documents.