AN-32 transport aircraft releases chaff as it flies past the IAF Day Parade in New Delhi, India.
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The search for IAF plane AN-32 aircraft with 29 people on board that went missing on Friday morning, proceeded on Saturday without any sightings of any debris in the Bay of Bengal, said by higher authorities of Indian Air Force. Indian Coast Guard was the first to launch the search and rescue operation said that the incident happened between 9.14am and 9.23 am.
Also read: Indian Air Force’s AN-32 plane goes missing: But is bad weather to blame? The flight, covering 1,375 kilometers (854 miles), was supposed to last three hours.
The aircraft can fly for up to four hours without refuelling.
A massive search and rescue operation involving aircraft, helicopters, ships and a submarine was launched immediately to find the plane that went missing around 300 km off Chennai, and will continue through the night.
Air force spokesman Anupam Banerjee said the last communication from the plane was about 15 minutes after takeoff.
An extensive search operation has been started.
Navy officials said a P-8I surveillance aircraft, a Dornier and four ships had been deployed in the search and rescue operation.
The submarine had been deployed to locate transmissions from an emergency locator beacon on the aircraft.
Among the 29 people on board the transport aircraft were six crew members and eight civilians (family members of IAF personnel).
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Though the aircraft has encountered technical snags previously, it has been a trustworthy work horse for the IAF for many years.
