Search for Indian Air Force's AN-32 continues

Fate of 29 passengers on board IAF's Aircraft AN-32 still unknown even after a day-and-half of the aircraft's disappearance

The fate of the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Aircraft AN-32, which went missing on Friday morning with 29 passengers on board, is still not known even as search operations were on in full swing on Saturday.

Massive search operations continued in Bay of Bengal and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar took an aerial review of the operations from Chennai.

AN-32 took off from the Tambaram Air Force Station at 8.30 am on Friday and it was supposed to reach Port Blair after three hours,  at 1145. The aircraft however did not make any contact with Air Traffic Control of Port Blair and an overdue action was initiated. The last Radar contact marked by Chennai Air Traffic Radar was East of Chennai at 151 NM. The aircraft was flying at 23,000 ft.

Of the 29 people on board, six were crew members, eleven were IAF personnel, two were from the Indian Army and one person was from the Indian Coast Guard.

Eight civilians working with the Indian Navy, along with one sailor from the Indian Navy, were also travelling in the aircraft.

The search operation is in progress braving prevalent monsoon weather conditions and poor visibility wherein IAF, Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard have pooled in all available resources to look for any possible sign of the aircraft in the vast swath of Bay of Bengal between Chennai and Port Blair.

An official said that the state of the sea is very choppy with thick monsoon clouds in the area making the search effort quite challenging.

IAF has deployed two C-130 aircraft equipped with Electro-optical and Infra-Red sensors. Indian Navy P8i aircraft equipped with Synthetic Aperture Radar along with Dorniers are also taking part in this operation. Indian Navy has deployed 13 ships in the search area and is being assisted by six ships of Indian Coast Guard and merchant vessels in the area. Indian Navy has also deployed one submarine for the task. The Maritime Rescue and Coordination Center at Chennai has been coordinating round the clock surveillance towards search effort along with Southern Air Command of IAF, Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard.

Five merchant vessels in area were also advised to keep sharp lookout. Merchant Vessel 'Harshavardhan' which was proceeding to Chennai from Port Blair and closest to the most likely position was directed to proceed to daturn at maximum speed and undertake search.

Further, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) was requested to provide computer aided probable search area. The National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad has been requested for high-resolution satellite image for missing IAF Aircraft AN-32.

"Despite extremely rough weather, extensive search operations are underway and continuous sea air coordinated search are being conducted in close coordination with aircraft from IAF and search units of Indian Navy, Nil debris/ survivor have been sighted. All out efforts are underway to locate missing aircraft," said the officials.