Mamata's helicopter makes emergency landing after facing air turbulence

Kolkata, June 27 (IANS) The helicopter carrying West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made an emergency landing at the Army's Sevak airbase near Siliguri after it faced air turbulence soon after taking off.

The chief minister addressed a public campaign rally at Jalpaiguri on Tuesday afternoon. After that helicopter carrying the chief minister, her personal security officer and a confidante scribetook off from Kranti helipad at Jalpaiguri for Bagdogra airport in Darjeeling district.

The chief minister was supposed to do a night stay at Siliguri on Tuesday and take a morning flight back to Kolkata from Bagdogra.

Sources said that soon after the helicopter carrying the chief minister took off it faced air turbulence following cloudy sky and high wind coupled with heavy rainfall.

It is learnt that the pilot was clueless at the initial stage desperately trying to locate a right place for the helicopter to land. The dense forest of Baikunthapur underneath added to the confusion further.

However, fortunately the Sevak airbase of the armed forces came to his notice at that point of time. He immediately contacted the airbase authorities and made an emergency landing of the helicopter there. However, the landing was safe and none of the passengers were injured.

From the base, the passengers, including the chief minister, first reached the nearby office of the Army. Till the time the report was filed, a convoy of the chief minister was heading back to Bagdogra by road.

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