Reddy, a member of India's Congress party, was on a tour of rural social welfare programmes [EPA]

The Press Trust of India said officials from the ruling Congress Party confirmed on Thursday that YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh state, had died in the crash.

Indian air force officials said earlier that they had located the helicopter on a densely forested hilltop.

Later commandos and police reached the site of the crash and found the bodies of all five people.

The helicopter carrying Reddy, who is a member of the Congress party, a bodyguard, two officials and a photographer, disappeared in bad weather on Wednesday.

The aircraft lost contact with air traffic controllers about 45 minutes after take-off.

Massive search

A massive search was quickly launched, focusing on an area where Maoist fighters are active and about 275km south of Hyderabad, the state capital.

MK Narayanan, the national security adviser, ruled out the possibility of Maoists bringing down the helicopter, saying a technical snag or pilot error could have occurred.

"A Naxal [Maoist] strike seems extremely improbable. I would almost entirely rule it out," he said.

Reddy was on an inspection tour of various rural social welfare programmes.

Recommend this article...

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto: