GUWAHATI, March 22: A helicopter carrying a three-member Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) delegation for poll campaigning had to make an emergency landing owing to unfavourable weather conditions, at Rowriah airport in Jorhat on Sunday afternoon.
Three members, Jiaur Rahman, Sambit Sarma and actor Zerifa Wahid, who had recently joined the regional party, were returning from Lahorighat in Morigaon district to Dibrugarh when they were caught in the midst of a cyclonic storm while flying over the Kaziranga area.
“We had left Mohanbari Airport (in Dibrugarh) for an election camapign at Lahorighat at 10 am. However, on our return flight that started at 3.10pm, a cyclonic storm had forced the pilot to make an emergency landing in Jorhat,” Rahman, who is also a spokesperson for AJP, told the media later.
The party members however did not have a clear idea about the “danger mid air” and only came to know after the helicopter had landed.
“We came to know only after getting off the chopper at the airport in Jorhat …The helicopter was shaking somewhat and there was smoke and darkness outside. That was all that we knew before the landing. Our pilot who is from Greece had made the emergency landing possible with great dexterity,” the party spokesperson said.
The pilot said that given the unfavourable weather conditions, it was impossible to proceed to Dibrugarh and therefore had to land in Jorhat.
Rahman said they would instead travel by road to Duliajan, one of the constituencies from where party president Lurinjyoti Gogoi is contesting the March 27 poll.