Barely days after she became the first woman president to do a sortie in a Sukhoi fighter jet, President Pratibha Patil had a narrow escape on Wednesday evening when the IAF chopper she was in hit a building at the Biju Patnaik airport. She was shaken for a moment but not hurt.
Her husband Devisingh Sekhawat and Orissa governor Muralidhar Chandrakant Bhandare were among those on board.
According to officials, Wednesday’s accident happened when Patil’s helicopter was taxiing after landing at Biju Patnaik Airport. At 4.40pm, the main rotor hit the wall of a building housing the meteorological office, eyewitnesses said. The impact was so severe that sparks flew and chunks of concrete shot out in all directions. ”A piece of debris hit an assistant sub-inspector of police in the chest,” a source said. Three rotor blades were badly damaged.
The President was returning from her trip to Puri and Konark. Two other helicopters carrying some of her relatives, Rashtrapati Bhavan officials and securitymen landed safely. Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who accompanied Patil at Jagannath Temple and Sun Temple, preferred to return to Bhubaneswar by road.
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