Pathanamthitta (Kerala): The helicopter carrying President Droupadi Murmu for her visit to Sabarimala faced a minor mishap on Wednesday morning when its wheels sank into a newly concreted helipad at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Pramadam.
After the President departed for Pamba by road, visuals aired on TV showed police officers and fire personnel pushing the helicopter to free its wheels from the small depressions formed on landing.
According to a senior district police officer, the stadium was chosen as the landing site at the last minute, prompting construction of the helipad late on Tuesday night. The original landing spot at Nilackal near Pamba was changed due to bad weather.
“The concrete hadn’t fully set, so it couldn’t bear the helicopter’s weight, resulting in the wheel depressions,” the officer explained.
President Murmu, who arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday evening for a four-day official visit to Kerala, travelled to Pathanamthitta district on Wednesday morning. From Pramadam, she continued her journey to Pamba—the foothills of the Sabarimala shrine—by road.
