He later left for Arakkonam from where he was flown to the area where the SAR was being undertaken jointly by the IAF, Navy and Coast Guard. Sources said so far no debris were sighted in the Bay of Bengal.
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We have received a complaint that Air Forces AN-32 transport aircraft has gone missing, a senior police official said today.
Search operation for the missing AN-32 aircraft of IAF continues uninterrupted for the third consecutive day on Sunday, official said.
The complaint says that 29 personnel on board AN-32 and the aircraft have gone missing. Personally monitoring the operation, Parrikar reviewed the utilisation of assets and resources to find the plane even as he instructed that more resources could be diverted for the goal if necessary, defence sources said.He was apprised of the hard conditions under which operations were being carried out during the last 24 hours.
The Eastern Naval Command (ENC) had deployed two P8i Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft with advanced Electro-optics and radars, two Dornier aircraft and 13 ships with integral helicopters for the search operations.
Reports said that clear skies and improved weather on Sunday could aid ongoing search efforts, which Defense Ministry said Saturday were hampered by choppy seas and thick monsoon clouds in the search area. “As the depth increases, challenges also increase”, he said, adding that the weather was rough and it was raining.
Choppy waters and high winds are making hard the ongoing search operation for the Indian Air Force AN-32 transport aircraft that disappeared over the Bay of Bengal on Friday morning. “Among the missing personnel is one person from Tamil Nadu”, the official told PTI.
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According to T M Balakrishnan Nair of Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, “We have devised two strategies to locate the missing aircraft”. The aircraft departed from Tambaram at 0830 (Indian Standard Time) with 6 crew members and 23 passengers. The aircraft can fly for up to four hours without refuelling and can operate in all weather conditions. The last radar contact marked by Chennai air traffic radar was 151 nautical miles east of Chennai at n altitude of 23000 ft. Eight civilians working with Indian Navy along with one sailor from Indian Navy were also travelling in the aircraft.
