Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and four others were killed in a copter mishap. The Prime Minister’s Office declared that Andhra Pradesh chief minister died in an air crash. The chopper was traced on top of Serai Salem hill, at a distance of 40 nautical miles east of Kurnool.

The helicopter carrying YSR Reddy, Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary, S Subramanyam, and the Chief Security Officer, A S C Wesley, and two pilots went missing in pouring rain on Wednesday morning over the Naxal and tiger-infested Nalamalla forests.

Five bodies were been found at the site where Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy chopper’s wreckage has been traced.

The CM left Hyderabad on a six-seater Bell chopper at 8.35am for Chittoor accompanied by his secretary and chief security officer. After 9.27am, radio contact was lost with the helicopter.

Soon after the chopper lost contact, multiple agencies of the state launched a massive hunt for possible wreckage in the desolate terrain. By evening, it expanded into the country's biggest-ever search operation with satellites in the sky joining remote sensing aircraft, fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles, troops on the ground and even barefoot deer-hunting tribals with bows and arrows.