Indian parliament speaker killed in crash

Balayogi (R) with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- The speaker of the Indian Parliament's lower house, G.M.C. Balayogi, has been killed in a helicopter crash.

The cause of the crash is not known yet but reports carried on Star TV indicated that Balayogi, an assistant and the pilot were killed on Sunday when the helicopter hit a tree after taking off in bad weather.

The helicopter was leaving the town of Bhimavaram in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh where Balayogi had attended a rally.

Balayogi, 50, was in his second term as speaker of Lok Sabha, parliament's lower house, and belonged to the regional Telugu Desam Party.

It appears that the crash is unrelated to the secular violence between Hindus and Muslim that has plagued the western state of Gujurat since Wednesday.