'Machinery failure might have led to Dornier crash': P Murugesan

Vice Chief of Naval Staff P Murugesan on Tuesday said it was a pitch dark night when the Dornier crash took place and added that machinery failure might be the reason for the crash.

"We are human beings, machinery may also fail, we don't exactly know what happened, inquiry is going on," said P Murugesan.

"Dornier crash was one of live combat mission trainings which was going on, it was a pitch dark night," he added.

Murugesan asserted that we have to train our people as similar situation may arise in an actual war.

Earlier in the day, Vice Admiral P Murugesan was accorded the Guard of Honor as he took charge as the Vice Chief of Naval Staff.

The aircraft was on a routine sortie with a three member crew on-board when the controlling tower lost contact with it at 10.08 pm on Tuesday. Preliminary findings reportedly indicate that the plane had developed some technical snag causing it to crash in the sea.