Search for three missing Coast Guard officers, aircraft enters second day

The aircraft was last tracked near Karaikal off the Puducherry coast; no signals since then

The search for the Indian Coast Guard’s missing Dornier aircraft, which crashed with three crew on board, entered its second day Wednesday.
 
Sources said that the possibility of adding more ships and aircraft to the search will be considered today.
 
The plane went missing near Karaikal in Puducherry coast Monday.
 

The crew included Deputy Commandant Vidyasagar piloting the aircraft, his co-pilot Deputy Commandant M.K. Soni and navigator/observer Subash Suresh.
 
The aircraft had been deployed for surveillance along the Tamil Nadu coast and Palk Bay. It took off from Chennai airport around 6 p.m. on Monday for a surveillance sortie but did not return.

 
An official statement said the last contact with the aircraft was at 9 p.m. on Monday. The last known location of the aircraft, as per Trichy radar, was off Karaikal in Puducherry, where it was tracked till 9.23 p.m., 95 nautical miles south of Chennai.
 
Officials said that no signals, including sonar, have been obtained; the aircraft was the latest induction in the Coast Guard inventory in 2014.
 
Five ships of the Coast Guard and four of the Indian Navy, as well as two long-range maritime surveillance aircraft P8Is were also involved in the search operation. Besides, fishermen in the coastal areas have also asked to intimate if they find anything on the waters.