Mukherjee has miraculous escape, again

External Affairs Minister and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee had a proverbial miraculous escape after his helicopter hit an air pocket when he was going from Guwahati to Silchar for an election rally on Tuesday evening.

External Affairs Minister and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee had a proverbial miraculous escape after his helicopter hit an air pocket when he was going from Guwahati to Silchar for an election rally on Tuesday evening.

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His chopper had an abrupt altitude fall probably due to the downward air current, but the pilot guided it to safety and flew back to Guwahati, Congress leaders in Guwahati said.

"It was a close shave. Mukherjee visited the Kamakhya temple to offer prayers after returning here," Assam Congress president Bhubaneswar Kalita told IANS.

Earlier in the evening, a bomb went off only a kilometre away from the venue of Mukherjee's election rally minutes before he was to reach there. One person was killed and 16 others were injured in the explosion.