Chennai: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Saturday he will monitor the search operations of the AN-32 aircraft that went missing with 29 people on board.
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However, there were no sightings of any aircraft debris in the Bay of Bengal by the search team so far.
The aircraft, which was due to land at Port Blair at 11.30 am at INS Utkrosh naval airstation in Port Blair, was yet to be located. The Air Force has told NDTV that the search operation continued through the night. The Russian-origin plane also had eight civilians who are family members of service personnel on board.
An IAF AN-32 transport aircraft travelling from Chennai to Port Blair carrying 29 persons has gone missing and the search for the “lost” aircraft is still on.
“These aircraft are very strong, they are used as supply planes for mountains and deserts”, said retired Air Force officer Praful Bakshi.
The last call from the aircraft was around 16 minutes after take-off, when the pilot reported that “everything is normal”.
The aircraft was last detected on radar 151 nautical miles east of Chennai, making a left turn with a rapid loss of height from 23,000 ft, according to a note provided by the air force to the defence ministry. Besides the 18 ships of the Navy and the Coast Guard, aircraft and a submarine are also part of the search operations.
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AN-32s are the IAF’s workhorse aircraft and are capable of flying for up to four hours without refuelling. Besides, there were 11 personnel from the IAF including an officer, two from the Army, one from the Coast Guard and 9 from the navy which included some from its armament depot.
