Air tragedies not new for political leaders

Tragedies have struck many air-borne political leaders even as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy has been missing after the helicopter carrying him lost contact since morning on Wednesday.

Tragedies have struck many air-borne political leaders even as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy has been missing after the helicopter carrying him lost contact since morning on Wednesday.

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Sanjay Gandhi was killed when the glider he was flying crashed at the Safdarjung airport in Delhi some 29 years back.

Madhavrao Scindia was killed in a plane crash on September 30, 2001, less than a decade ago when he was travelling to Kanpur for addressing a Congress rally.

Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balayogi died in a chopper crash on March 3, 2002 in West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh.

Haryana ministers O P Jindal and Surendra Singh were killed in a chopper crash a few years back.

Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress President and Union Ministers Prithviraj Chauhan and Selja had a miraculous escape in 2004 when the rear portion of their chopper broke on landing at a helipad in Khanvel, a village in south Gujarat.