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Narrow escape for Punjab CM as chopper crashes
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September 12, 2006 14:30 IST
Last Updated: September 12, 2006 21:55 IST

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Public Works Department Minister Partap Singh Bajwa and four others had a narrow escape as their helicopter crashed after getting entangled in wires while taking off from Bahadurpur Rajowa village in Gurdaspur district on Tuesday.

The chief minister was leaving the venue after laying the foundation stone of a 66-KV grid power sub-station. Immediately after the accident, he went to Damdama Sahib gurdwara at Sri Hargobindpur and paid his obeisance.

The chief minister suffered minor bruises and experienced pain in upper chest.

"Capt Amarinder has suffered minor bruises. There is no major injury. He felt some pain in the upper chest portion," Post Graduate Institute's senior doctor at the Orthopaedics Depratment Dr M S Dhillon told PTI.

He said the chief minister and another of his cabinet colleague, Pratap Singh Bajwa, will be examined again on Wednesday. "We conducted a scan and other tests but everything looks fine at this movement," Dhillon said.

Capt Amarinder and Bajwa were discharged after a brief stay at the hospital, he said.

Meanwhile, the state government has ordered a probe, which will be conducted by the secretary of the state's civil aviation department, an official spokesman said in Chandigarh. No timeframe has been fixed for completing the probe.

The helicopter could not gain proper height, as a result of which it crashed into electric wires. It then lost control and came down at 12.20 pm, the spokesman informed.

Officials said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is expected to order a separate probe into the crash of the eight-seat Pawan Hans helicopter that had been leased by the state government.


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