Pathanamthitta (PTI): The wheels of the helicopter which carried President Droupadi Murmu for her Sabarimala visit got stuck in a depression in the newly concreted helipad at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium at Pramadam here when it landed on Wednesday morning.
After the President left for Pamba by road, visuals on TV channels showed several policemen and fire force personnel pushing the helicopter's wheels out of the small depressions created when it landed on the concrete.
A senior police officer of the district said that the stadium was fixed as the location for landing the helicopter at the last moment and therefore, the helipad was created there late on Tuesday.
The landing was originally planned at Nilackal near Pamba, but it was changed to Pramadam due to inclement weather.
"The concrete had not set completely and therefore, it could not handle the helicopter's weight when it landed and depressions were formed where the wheels touched the ground," the officer said.
The President, who arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday evening for a four-day official visit to the southern state, left for Pathanamthitta district, where the hill shrine is located, this morning.
From Pramadam, Murmu is travelling to Pamba, the foothills of Sabarimala, via road.
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Konaje: A 28-year-old married man from Boliyar near Mudipu died in a road accident reported in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, on Tuesday.
The deceased has been identified as Mohammed Rizwan (28), son of B.H. Kareem, a resident of Boliyar, police said.
Rizwan had been working for several years as a driver of a fish transport lorry through a company. He was driving a fish-laden lorry to Maharashtra when the accident occurred between two lorries in Ratnagiri. He sustained severe injuries in the crash and succumbed to them, according to information received.
He is survived by his father, mother, wife, two-year-old child, three brothers and three sisters.
Family sources said the body is expected to reach his native place on Wednesday morning and burial will take place in the premises of the Boliyar Central Mosque.
