Gamlin is new Arunachal chief minister, Khandu's body in Itanagar

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Arunachal Pradesh's Power Minister Jarbom Gamlin will be the new chief minister of the state after the death of incumbent Dorjee Khandu in a helicopter crash, officials said on Thursday.

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 1 p.m. 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.

"Ever since Arunachal Pradesh became a full-fledged state, I have no doubts in my mind Dorjee Khandu is the best chief minister so far. By best I mean a chief minister who would go down in history as one who brought about visible development and ushered political stability to the state," said Jarbom Gamlin.

Khandu's body bore injury marks on his head and face, although it was not charred.

"Probably the injury was due to the impact of the crash, maybe the helicopter body hit his head during the crash. But there were no visible signs of any burn injuries as such," the chief minister's adviser Kiren Rijiju said.

The other four bodies were in bad shape - they include the two pilots Captain J.S. Babbar and Captain T.S. Mamik, Khandu's security officer Yeshi Choddak, and Yeshi Lamu, sister of Tawang legislator Tsewang Dhondup.

"The worst were the bodies of the two pilots - both of them charred beyond recognition and probably it might require some medical tests for identification," Rijiju said.

The bodies of the two pilots were flown to New Delhi on Thursday. Captain Mamik hails from Dehradun.

Witnesses said the chopper probably plunged from a great height and as it plummeted down the rugged mountain slope it burst into flames.

"The wreckage of the helicopter was strewn all over the area with signs of a black coating over the metallic pieces due to the fire that engulfed the chopper soon after it crashed," a person who identified himself as Pema and is a local yak herder who saw the crash site said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress party president Sonia Gandhi are arriving in Itanagar on Friday to pay their tributes to Khandu.

The body of Khandu would be flown to Tawang on Friday for his last rites as per Buddhist rituals. Khandu's ancestral home is in Tawang district.

Khandu's four wives and six children would accompany the coffin to Tawang on Friday.