New Delhi:
A helicopter with politician Sharad Yadav had to land minutes after it took off from Patna because of a major technical problem. Sources say the tip of the tail rotator blade of the chopper broke mid-air.
Yadav, who is the President of the Janata Dal (United), two pilots, and three other passengers, are safe.
"We took off around 8.30 in the morning but barely 5-6 minutes after taking off, we heard a loud bang immediately after which the helicopter dipped by 15 m. Almost within a minute of hearing that sound, our chopper landed. The pilot handled the situation quite efficiently." said the JD(U) President.
"The pilot informed me that a few centimetres of the lower portion of one of the two blades had come off. Had the chopper been at a higher altitude, there was a possibility of the entire blade coming off and it would have been quite dangerous," he added.
When contacted, state Road Construction Minister Prem Kumar said, "We heard a sound in the tail fan of the wobbling chopper and the pilots soon decided to make an emergency landing."
(Read: Bihar govt given 15 days to clear Patna airport runway)The pilot reported the technical problem to the Air Traffic Control in Patna and landed the helicopter in a field at Jakkanpur.
Yadav was going to Chausa to attend a function for inauguration of a road bridge by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.