Mamata Banerjee's helicopter makes emergency landing near Siliguri

Siliguri: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's helicopter made an emergency landing at the Sevoke air base near Siliguri on Tuesday afternoon due to bad weather, officials said.

Banerjee was on the way to the Bagdogra airport after addressing an election rally in Jalpaiguri when her helicopter ran into bad weather while flying over the Baikunthapur forest, they said.

"It was raining very heavily here, and the pilot decided to make an emergency landing," an official told PTI.

After the incident, it was decided that Banerjee will travel by road to the Bagdogra airport, and then fly back to Kolkata, he said.

The chief minister was touring parts of northern West Bengal to campaign for the panchayat elections, the polling for which will be held on July 8.