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Itanagar, May 4(ANI): A pale of gloom descended on Arunachal Pradesh with the break of the news of recovery of the bodies of Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and four others and the ill-fated Pawan Hans helicopter at Keyla, near Luguthang in Tawang district this morning.

The B3 single-engine and four-seater copter, which went missing with Khandu, his security officer Yeshi Chodak, Yeshi Lhamu, sister of Tawang MLA Tsewang Dhondup and two pilots on board last Saturday after taking off from Tawang heliport at 9.56 a.m.

It was to land at Itanagar at 1130 a.m., but its contact with Guwahati ATC was lost at 10.20 a.m. near Sella Pass at 13,700 feet.

Thousands thronged Khandu’s official bungalow at Niti Vihar here for confirmation as they were hoping against hope that their beloved chief minister was alive and would return safely.

Many were heartbroken while many with soaked eyes were still enquiring with disbelief of the tragic news.

“Arunachal has lost its ‘Laughing Buddha’ as Khandu tried his best to bring smiles on the face of every Arunachalee”, senior scribe Pradeep Kumar commented.

Grieving ministers, MLAs including senior officials and leaders were voiceless and hesitant to talk.

Though Union DoNER minister Bijoy Krishna Handique confirmed identification of the body first by an anchal samiti member Thupten from Keyla Village of Khandu’s Mukto constituency, but denied official identification of the body.

Thupten first informed UDC Rinchin who passed on the information to Tawang deputy commissioner Gamli Padu, who alerted the Army base at Keyla.

An army team immediately left for the spot, while six IAF choppers were hovering to locate the exact spot and carry the bodies to Tawang, Handique said adding, honouring the wishes of the people Khandu’s body would be brought here and kept at his bungalow for the people to pay their last respect.

The tall claims of ISRO and Sukhoi imageries identifying seven possible crash sites proved futile as it was the villagers whose acquaintance with Arunachal’s tough terrain came handy in locating the chopper debris and the charred bodies.

“The body later would be sent to his native village in Tawang, but final rites will be observed simultaneously at Tawang and Itanagar with state honours,” Handique said.

If the transporting of body for its dispatch by chopper gets delayed, it will be sent by road from Tawang, around 500 kilometres from here, he added.

“Never before Arunachal witnessed so massive development the way Khandu initiated after taking over the reign on April 9, 2007,” Power Minister Jarbom Gamlin, who is also state government spokesman, said while recalling his last meeting with Khandu on April 24.

Khandu had left for Tawang on April 27 to receive Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar the next day but her trip was cancelled due to inclement weather.

“If the death is confirmed, it is a great loss for the entire nation as Khandu had initiated massive development programmes in this Himalayan state bordering China, which serves as sentinel of the nation,” RWD Minister Kalikho Pul commented.

Describing the news as saddest, Home Minister Tako Dabi said: “Let god bless the people of Arunachal, particularly family members to bear the irreparable loss.”

The family members of Khandu had however rushed to Tawang immediately after the chopper went missing.

“With Khandu’s death, the media fraternity has lost the most media-friendly chief minister, who not only had granted Rs 20 lakh corpus fund for their welfare, but Rs. 2 crore for a press colony,” Arunachal Press Club President Jarpum Gamlin said.

A group of youth enraged over the news ransacked the local Pawan Hans office.

The glass panes of the director’s chamber and booking counter were damaged in the attack, police sources said.

The business community has decided to down their shutters tomorrow as a mark of respect to the chief minister.

Meanwhile, Union Ministers V Narayansamy and Mukul Wasnik who have been monitoring the situation here since May 1 and apprising the PMO and Congress president, left for New Delhi this morning to hold parleys with party high command to name the leader to take over Khandu’s reign. (ANI)