IAF plane with 29 people on board goes missing; Search operation on ..
NEW DELHI: A transport plane of the Indian Air Force with 29 people on board went missing today while flying from Chennai to Port Blair. Defence sources said the AN-32 aircraft took off at 0830 hours from Tambaram in Chennai and the last contact with it was made 16 minutes later. Defence spokesperson while talking to AIR said that the aircraft was estimated to arrive Port Blair at 1130 hrs.
A massive search operation has been launched by the IAF, Navy and the Coast Guard. One P8I aircraft and one Donier aircraft have been pressed into seach and rescue operation while four ships have been diverted to join them.
More military assets are being sent to help in the search and rescue operation. More than 12 Navy and Coast Guard ships are looking for the aircraft in the Bay of Bengal. A submarine has also been diverted to the area.
The aircraft, which had six crew members and eight civilians or family members, may have plunged from an altitude of 23,000 feet, said an officer.The plane left the Tambaram air base near Chennai at 8.30 am for Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar chain of islands. It was to have landed around 11.45 am.
“It was found missing. As of now, we will term it as overdue,” said Navy spokesperson DK Sharma, in the afternoon.It was a courier flight taking mostly service personnel to the strategic islands near the Malacca Straits, where India has a military base.The last call from the aircraft was around 16 minutes after take-off, when the pilot reported that “everything is normal.”A massive search is on for the missing AN-32 aircraft of the Indian Air Forc
The plane fell off the radar at 9.12 am, 280 km east of Chennai. There were 11 air force personnel, two army and one navy personnel and a Coast Guard member on board.The plane has an emergency beacon locator, which usually gets activated if there is a crash. The navy submarine has been sent to track any underwater transmission from the locator.
The Navy has also sent five surveillance aircraft including a Dornier, and 13 ships – Sahyadri, Rajput, Ranvijay, Kamorta, Kirch, Karmuk, Kora, Kuthar, Shakti, Jyoti, Ghariyal and Sukanya.The Navy sent 13 ships to the region at full speed. (File Photo.There are more than 100 Russian-made AN-32s in service with the IAF. It is an aircraft that can fly for up to four hours without refueling and operate in all weather conditions.
“These aircraft are very strong, they are used as supply planes for mountains and deserts,” said retired Air Force officer Praful Bakshi.
