Missing plane: Aerial search stalled on 6th day due to bad weather, ground troops scour for clues

Aerial search operation could not be undertaken on Saturday to trace the missing transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force in remote Mechuka in Arunachal Pradesh due to poor weather conditions, even as ground troops continued combing the mountainous area for the sixth consecutive day.

Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa reviewed the overall search operation at a high-level meeting in Assam's Jorhat air base from where the AN-32 aircraft, with 13 people on board, had taken off for Mechuka advanced landing ground on Monday, IAF offcials said here.

"Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa was given a detailed briefing about the operations and was apprised with the inputs received so far. He interacted with families of the officers and airmen who were onboard the aircraft," an IAF spokesperson said.

The IAF is undertaking a massive search operation to trace the missing plane but there has been no breakthrough yet.

The assets deployed for the operation include Sukhoi-30 aircraft in addition to a fleet of C-130J and AN-32 planes and Mi-17 and ALH helicopters. The ground forces include troops from the Army, Indo Tibetan Border Police and state police.

"The area of search is mountainous and heavily forested with thick undergrowth. The weather in the area has been inclement with low clouds and rain during most hours," said the IAF spokesperson.

"Combined with the inhospitable terrain, the weather has posed serious challenges to aerial search operations," the official added.

He said aerial search could not be undertaken due to poor weather conditions on Saturday.

"Indian Air Force has increased the deployment of its helicopters and transport aircraft and has expanded the search area significantly since the beginning of the operations," the official said.

He said more and more area is being covered by airborne sensors and satellites and the imaging is being followed-up by close analysis of the data. The IAF has been regularly updating the families of all air-warriors on board the aircraft about the rescue operation.

The Indian Navy's P-8I aircraft was deployed earlier this week as it has electro-optical and infra-red sensors which could be helpful in the search operation.

IAF officials said ISRO's Cartosat and RISAT satellites are taking images of the area around Menchuka to help the rescuers find the plane.

The AN-32 aircraft took off from Jorhat at 12.27 pm for the Menchuka advance landing ground and its last contact with the ground control was at 1 pm.

A total of eight aircrew and five passengers were on board the aircraft.

The AN-32 is a Russian origin aircraft and the IAF currently operates a sizeable number of it. It is a twin-engine turboprop transport aircraft.