Raipur, July 15 (PTI): An Indian Air Force helicopter was today pressed into service to trace the Chhattisgarh government chopper, which went missing with four people on board.

IAF M-8 helicopter was pressed into service to trace the state government's Eurocopter EC-135, which went missing with two pilots and two engineering staff after taking off at 11:50 am from Bhopal for Raipur yesterday, officials told PTI.

The Eurocopter EC-135 lost contact with Bhopal Air Traffic Control at about 12:25 pm. It has two pilots Capt A S Sidhu and Capt Vikram Savekar besides Engineer Amitabh Soni and Technician Manish Badania on board, they said.

After having failed to trace the chopper, the state governments of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are also sending their helicopters and planes on the air route between Bhopal and Raipur to trace the missing Eurocopter, they said.

State Director Civil Aviation Anil Tuteja said the Eurocopter had gone to Bhopal for maintenance and while returning it went missing.