Itanagar, Friday, May 06, 2011: State funeral for Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, who was killed in a helicopter crash, will take place today in Itanagar. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi will attend the funeral.

Six days after the helicopter carrying Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu crashed, the bodies of the five victims were retrieved on Thursday from the snow-capped tortuous mountainous terrain even as a pall of gloom enveloped this frontier state.

About 200-odd local tribal people and security personnel brought the five bodies to Tawang, traversing hostile terrain with snow of up to three-five feet, besides intermittent drizzle.

Finally, a Mi-17 helicopter flew the coffin carrying the body of the 56-year-old chief minister to state capital Itanagar around 1pm as thousands of people patiently lined up on either side of the road leading from the helipad to Khandu’s official residence. The mood was sombre as thousands filed past the coffin at the Chief Minister’s residence.

(News agency)