Fingers crossed on YSR's fate; helicopter search called off

The search operations by helicopters for locating Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy has been called off because of light and weather conditions and will resume tomorrow morning, home minister P Chidambaram said here today.

"There is no good news yet. We are keeping our fingers crossed. Our prayers are with Rajasekhara Reddy and his family," he told reporters more than nine hours after the helicopter lost contact with the ATC at 9:35 AM.

The helicopter has been stopped for the time being because of weather and light conditions. Tomorrow in the first light of the day, helicopters will continue the search, he said.

However, Chidambaram said the search on foot by forest and revenue officials was on around the point where they think the helicopter was last seen. Police and CRPF personnel were also moving on foot. They would reach there in an hour or so.

"I have advised the state government to continue the search even during the night with whatever light is available. Perhaps they would be able to do the search on for couple of hours," he said.

The Union home ministry has rushed 5,000 CRPF personnel to the area from nearby Chattisgarh and Orissa to conduct search in the area.