Fire scare on CM's helicopter

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah went through some anxious moments at HAL Airport here on Saturday when traces of fire and smoke were noticed from the tail end of the cho­pper in which he was scheduled to travel to Mysuru.

Siddaramaiah, Home Minister K J George, PWD Minister H C Mahadevappa and the chief minister’s Joint Secretary Ramaiah boarded a private helicopter owned by Prabhatam Aviation at 11am. The chief minister’s office (CMO) booked a private helicopter since no special flights are available for the chief minister.

Just before take-off, smoke appeared from the tail end of the helicopter and security officials present at the airport immediately rushed and moved all on board to safety. An official press release from the CMO said the fire was noticed in the silencer of the helicopter. It is said that none of the passengers or the pilots noticed the smoke.

Video footage and photographs from HAL Airport show Siddaramaiah rushing out of the helicopter and walking to safety. Later, he rested for some time before leaving for Mysuru by road.

While the aviation company was ready to fly the same chopper after inspection, George suggested the chief minister not to take the risk.

Any technical inspection would have further delayed the flight by an hour or two, making travel by road a better option.

While the government claimed that there was a fire, spokesperson of the Delhi-based Prabhatam Aviation, Gautam, said it was a technical snag.

On being told that the government had suggested that there was a fire, Gautam said: “Then ask them to justify whether it was a fire or not. It was just a technical snag.”