Indian and Bhutanese authorities are searching for a helicopter carrying the chief minister of northeastern India's Arunachal Pradesh state that went missing Saturday in bad weather along their border.
Indian officials Sunday said Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, two other passengers and two pilots were on their way to the state capital, Itanagar, when the aircraft lost contact with air traffic control just 20 minutes after taking off from the remote Tawang region.
More than 2,400 Indian soldiers, police and rescue teams fanned out to conduct the ground search along the Indian-Bhutanese border, while several air force planes and helicopters conducted an aerial survey. The operation was called off at dark Sunday but is to resume Monday.
Khandu, a member of the ruling Congress party, has been chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh since 2007.
