National

Ministry appoints inquiry committee
By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 3. A three-member inquiry committee headed by Lt.Gen. A. Natarajan and including two technical members was today appointed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to report on the helicopter crash in Andhra Pradesh which killed the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, G.M.C. Balayogi, his private secretary, K.S. Raju and the pilot, Capt. G.V. Menon.

The Ministry asserted that no report of any in-flight emergency had been received from the helicopter by either the Hyderabad or the Chennai ATCs. The Deccan Aviation Bell 206 helicopter VT-DAP of 1991 vintage which was on a non-scheduled flight from Bhimavaram ``had a valid certificate of airworthiness'' at the time of the accident, the Ministry stated.

On receipt of information of the accident, the Regional Controller of Air Safety, office of the Director-General of Civil Aviation in Hyderabad, Bir Singh Rai, had rushed to the spot to carry out on-the-site investigations.

According to an eye-witness account when the helicopter was coming down the engine sound of the aircraft could be heard. It hit a coconut tree and fell nose down in a fish pond near Koluru Lake in village Kaikalur, the Ministry stated. The eye-witness also reported foggy conditions and poor visibility at the time of the accident, about 7.45 a.m.

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