Close shave for minister, six others

PATNA: Bihar road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav on Tuesday had a miraculous escape as the chopper he was travelling in had to make an emergency landing in a remote village in Nalanda. Six others, including three senior engineers and three pilots, were also on board as the chopper made an emergency landing following a sudden storm that hit the city.
“The storm made it impossible for the chopper to move ahead.Rather, it appeared as if the chopper was being pushed back. It was like meeting with death for all of us,” Nand Kishore Yadav told TOI. The chopper was scheduled to take around 30 minutes to reach Patna airport when it took off for the state capital from Tajpur village in Samasti-pur district at around 2:30 pm where the minister had gone to participate in a foundation stone-laying ceremony. Sources said the chopper was flying at a height of 5,000 feet when it was caught in the storm.
Around 3 pm the air traffic control at Patna airport had asked the pilot not to move towards the state capital because of the storm. The chopper hov-ered in the air for around 40 minutes waiting for the storm to ebb. As the chopper was running out of fuel the pilot made an emergency landing on a field at Maidipur village in Nalanda.
“As the ground was wet due to the heavy downpour, the chopper tilted on one side,” the sources said. Yadav had to remain in the village for 30 minutes before clearance was given to the pilot to finally take off for Patna at 4:15 pm.