Kiren Rijiju's chopper makes emergency landing at Hindon airbase

NEW DELHI: A chopper carrying Union Minister Kiren Rijiju and a BJP MP today made an emergency landing at Hindon airbase near here following engine trouble after being airborne for nearly 20 minutes.

"We are all safe," Rijiju told PTI over phone. The Minister, along with Lok Sabha member from Tehri-Garhwal Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, had taken off for Tehri on an Mi-17V5 helicopter from capital's Safdarjung airport.

There were eight people on-board the helicopter, including officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs and two television journalists.

The pilot detected a problem in the engine after around 20 minutes following which he landed the chopper at Hindon under emergency condition.

"The pilot then decided to make an emergency landing in the nearby Hindon airbase," Rijiju said.

Rijiju, Minister of State for Home, said he was travelling to Tehri to review disaster preparedness and to meet paramilitary personnel deployed along the Sino-India border.

An aircraft of the Border Security Force would now take Rijiju and his entourage to Uttarakhand from Hindon.

Ten personnel of the BSF were killed when a small plane of the paramilitary force crashed near the Delhi airport just after take-off in December 2015. All on board the B 200 Super King - three officers and seven senior technicians - were killed.