Visakhapatnam: “I know the suffering and mental agony that you are going through as I felt the same when my father and former chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s helicopter went off the radar,” said YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy to the families of the civilian employees of the Indian Navy, who were travelling in the missing AN-32 aircraft.
Mr Reddy, who was in Visakhapatnam on Monday to meet the grief-stricken families, urged them to stay strong. “I have been praying for the safe return of your family members. We will mount pressure on the Union government to intensify the rescue operations. The way the aeroplanes are operated nowadays is worrisome,” said Mr Reddy.
Reaching Visakhapatnam airport at about 12 pm, Mr Reddy proceeded to the house of Bhupendra Singh, the missing quality examiner at the Naval Armament Depot (NAD), in 104 Area of the city.
He then visited N. Chinnarao’s family in Butchirajupalem, P. Nagendra Rao’s family in Gopalapatnam, G. Srinivasa Rao’s family in Vepagunta, B. Samba Murthy’s family in Appannapalem and R.V. Prasad Rao’s family in Madhavadhara and enquired about the well-being of their family members.
Mr Reddy promised them that the YSRC would extend support on all fronts to the bereaved families, giving them phone numbers of their party leaders whom they could contact.
Party senior leader Botsa Satyanarayana, district YSRC chief Gudivada Amarnath, ex-MLAs Malla Vijay Prasad and Karanam Dharmasree and others were present.
The aircraft left for Port Blair from Chennai on Friday morning with 29 people, including eight NAD civilian employees from Vizag, and went off the radar minutes later.
