Arunachal Pradesh: Kiren Rijiju's chopper makes preventive landing after poor weather

Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday had a miraculous escape when a chopper carrying him had landed in emergency conditions due to bad weather.

The Mi-17 helicopter with Rijiju and seven other passengers and crew was flying from Guwahati to Zero in Arunachal Pradesh when it faced heavy rains and fog this afternoon.

The experienced pilots of the chopper, belonging to the Border Security Force, managed to manoeuvre for around 10 minutes and landed at a small field in Itanagar in emergency situation.

"I was lucky enough to be landed safely, thanks to the BSF pilots who are very experienced," he told PTI.

The Minister of State for Home said the Itanagar SP came to the spot after hearing the news later while local people came forward immediately to help him and other accompying people.

Rijiju was travelling to Ziro to attend the local Dree festival there.

However, BSF sources said that the landing was not an emergency, but a preventive one. "Because of weather conditions, hepter could not land to its destination, so it landed to an alternate place," a BSF source said.