The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed this afternoon that the Arunachal Pradesh CM Dorjee Khandu was killed in a helicopter crash.  

Shortly after the statement, army rescue teams had recovered five mutilated bodies and the wreckage of the helicopter in a deep forest near the Jang waterfalls in Tawang district, exactly 96 hours after they went missing.

The helicopter crashed at an altitude of 10,000 ft in a remote and inaccessible Lobotang area surrounded by steep mountain ranges and dense forest. The rugged and difficult terrain, which is experiencing heavy rains and snowfall, is said to be affecting the rescue work.

The bodies are being transported to the first accessible point and then will be brought to Itanagar later in the day, officials said. Army rescue teams would have to walk in thick forest and may take four to five hours to bring the bodies to the first accessible point.

The Pawan Hans AS350 B-3 helicopter had taken off from Tawang at 9.50 a.m. on Saturday carrying the chief minister and four others including the pilots. After 20 minutes, the helicopter had lost radio contact as it flew over the Sela Pass along the Chinese border at an altitude of 13,700 feet.

The crash site and the bodies were found after four days of massive search by the Indian Air Force and Army helicopters.

The helicopter had two pilots and three passengers on board, including the chief minister and his personal security officer. Yeshmi Lamu, the younger sister of the Congress legislator Tsewang Dhondup, was the third passenger. She was in the helicopter with the chief minister for a medical check-up in Itanagar.