Tribals around Nallamalla forest heard a huge noise and ignored it... and then they heard about YSR's missing copter
Tribals around Nallamalla forest heard a huge noise and ignored it... and then they heard about YSR's missing copter
Tribals living near Akkamahadevi caves dismissed it as a sound coming out of the Nallamalla forest.
Then came news of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's chopper going missing yesterday, giving way to shock and disbelief and even panic as more choppers and jets started circling over the forest.
"The local fishermen heard a loud sound around 11 am," said Sreenivas K, a Vijaywada-based engineer, who was in Sri Sailam. "They reported it to the local police when they got to know of the CM's chopper going missing but it didn't help."
Last seen here
Since then, Nallamalla forest, located between Hyderabad and Chittoor, is drawing huge crowds as Atmakura, a village attached to the forest, is where Reddy's chopper was last seen.
Sri Sailam (also called Srisaila) is hallowed by memories of the Kannada poet Akkamahadevi, whose poetry is erotic and sublime at the same time.
The villagers, suddenly surrounded by police and security personnel, believe that the combination of floods and forest could have created problems for the chopper.
"There was heavy rain in the area," said Prabhakar Chowdhry, former mayor of Ananthpur who is keeping tabs on the search operations. "We are all disturbed. There is a reservoir in the area and a dense forest."
MiD DAY spoke to residents of Kurnool late last night.
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