Minister's helicopter missing

HYDERABAD, India, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A helicopter carrying the chief minister of India's southern Andhra Pradesh state was reported missing Wednesday, authorities said.

There was growing anxiety in New Delhi as the six-seater Bell Helicopter in which Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was traveling had not been heard from since Wednesday morning, the Times of India reported. Four Indian Air Force helicopters, along with other choppers, were conducting an intense search over a forest area.

The report said Reddy, an influential member of the ruling Congress Party of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had left Hyderabad, capital of the coastal state, in the morning for Chittoor accompanied by his secretary and chief security officer.

Authorities said radio contact was lost around 9:30 a.m. when the chopper was reported flying over the thickly forested Nalamalla area where there had been heavy rain and much flooding.

State Finance Minister A. Rosaiah told reporters there had been no communication with the minister's craft after the last radio contact.

Singh and Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi expressed concern over the incident, the Times of India report said.

The Press Trust of India quoted sources as saying Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram was monitoring the situation.