Mamata delayed for rally as helicopter loses way

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's helicopter lost the way while she was flying on Wednesday from Darjeeling district's Siliguri to Chopra in North Dinajpur district to address an election meeting.

The pilot veered from the location of the meeting venue at Chopra and mistakenly flew to Bihar, and continued to circle the sky before the copter was brought back to the proper route by the air controllers.

As a result, the helicopter took 55 minutes to reach the venue, as against the normal time of 22 minutes.

Banerjee herself told the people about her ordeal during the speech.

"We lost the way. We were supposed to reach in 22 minutes, but we had to search for the location for all of 55 minutes. So I got late. You have been inconvenienced, but it was good that the sky was clear," she said.

There was much concern and tension at the meeting venue in Chopra as the helicopter was not sighted for a long time after it was announced around 12.55 p.m. that it had departed from Siliguri.-IANS