Indian officials today declared that the chief minister of the state of Andhra Pradesh, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, has died in an air crash. 

Rescuers earlier found the helicopter of the powerful Indian politician in tiger-infested jungle hills after it went missing for almost 24 hours.

The helicopter carrying YSR Reddy, two of his staff and two pilots went missing in pouring rain on Wednesday morning over the Nalamalla forests.

Five bodies were found at the site where the chopper’s wreckage has been traced, officials said.

The government on Thursday confirmed that Nearly 24 hours after YSR's chopper went missing, it was located atop Serai Salem hill, at a distance 40 nautical miles (70 km) east of Kurnool.

Reddy left Hyderabad on a six-seater Bell chopper at 8.35am for Chittoor accompanied by his secretary and chief security officer. After 9.27 am, radio contact was lost with the helicopter.

Soon after the chopper lost contact, multiple agencies of the state launched a massive hunt for possible wreckage in the desolate terrain. By evening, it expanded into the country's biggest-ever search operation with satellites in the sky joining remote sensing aircraft, fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles, troops on the ground and even barefoot deer-hunting tribals with bows and arrows.