Mumbai, May 25 (PTI): Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had a narrow escape today when his helicopter got entangled in overhead wires and crash-landed in Latur district after the pilot tried to descend because of bad weather soon after take-off.

"Our helicopter did meet with an accident in Latur but me and my team is (sic) absolutely safe and ok. Nothing to worry," Fadnavis tweeted after the accident in which the state chopper was damaged beyond repair.

The accident occurred when the helicopter, which had six persons on board including two crew members, was landing because of the bad weather at Nilanga town where the chief minister had held a farmers' event.

A senior IAS officer, Praveen Pardeshi, Fadnavis's personal assistant Abhimanyu Pawar and media adviser Ketan Pathak were among those on board. "I am safe. There was a minor accident involving the helicopter. People shouldn't believe in rumours. Nobody got hurt. Pathak has suffered minor injuries. With the blessings of 11 crore people of Maharashtra, I am safe," Fadnavis said later, adding the pilot also did not have any major injury.

The incident will be investigated by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) - which comes under the civil aviation ministry - an official of the directorate-general of civil aviation (DGCA) said. He added that the six-seater helicopter would have to be "written off".

The chief minister later travelled by road to Latur town, about 40km from the crash site, and boarded a specially arranged aircraft to fly back to Mumbai.

Earlier, while taking off around noon from Nilanga, the pilot observed a variable wind pattern and decided to land but in the process, the helicopter got entangled in the wires, the official said, adding all on board were safe and escaped without any serious injury.

Fadnavis had gone to the Latur pocket, located in the Marathwada region, for Shivar Samwad Sabha, a state-wide BJP campaign aimed at reaching out to farmers.

This was not the first time the chief minister has had aircraft problems. On a tour to Gadchiroli in the Vidarbha region recently, Fadnavis's helicopter suffered a technical problem, following which he had to travel by road to Nagpur.

Later today, Maharashtra governor C. Vidyasagar Rao called Fadnavis from Chennai and enquired about his well-being. The governor - who holds additional charge of Tamil Nadu - said he was shocked to hear about the crash-landing and expressed relief after being informed by Fadnavis that everyone on the chopper was safe. Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu also expressed relief. "Spoke to CM Maharashtra @Dev_Fadnavis, thank god he is safe after his helicopter crash lands (sic)," Naidu tweeted.