The body of the Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Dorjee Khandu, who was killed in the helicopter crash on Saturday, was brought to state capital Itanagar this afternoon in an air force helicopter from Tawang.

 

Khandu's funeral will take place on Friday in Tawang, his home district. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and congress president Sonia Gandhi are expected to attend the funeral.

 

Khandu’s helicopter went missing 20 minutes after take off Saturday morning and the crashed debris of the chopper along with the dead bodies of the five occupants were found on Wednesday morning after five days of intensive aerial search by army and air force helicopters.

 

The bodies of Khandu and Yeshi Lamu, the sister of the Tawang legislator ,Tswang Dhondup, were earlier brought to the Tawang civil hospital which conducted the post-mortem.

As the chopper crashed in the hilly forests at an altitude of 14, 000 ft above sea level, no vehicle could go in the area. Local villagers and security personnel carried Khandu’s body on their shoulders, trekking the tortuous mountain terrain and braving three feet of snow cover.

The bodies of the other three occupants of the ill fated chopper, chief security officer of the chief minister and two pilots, are yet to be brought to Tamang.