An AN 32 aircraft of the IAF, with 29 personnel on board, including four officers, today went missing over Bay of Bengal on its way from near Chennai to Port Blair, raising concerns over its fate.
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Air force, navy and coast guard crews were searching for the plane.
The aircraft was reportedly on a routine weekly flight for Air Force personnel.
The last signal from the pilot was received almost 16-minutes after the takeoff, when the pilot reported “everything is normal”.
The IAF, meanwhile, has employed one C130J and one AN-32 aircraft, while the Coast Guard has also deployed CGS Sagar and one Dornier aircraft to locate the missing plane. The A 32 plane took off at 8:30 AM from Tambaram in Chennai and plane heading for Port Blair and was to have landed around 11:20 AM and the last with it was the last made 16 minute after take-off.
As the aircraft went missing, a full-scale search and rescue operation was launched immediately.
Four ships of the ENC, deployed in the Bay of Bengal on different missions, were diverted to the search area while eight ships of the Eastern Fleet, which were on return journey from the South China Sea, were also made to proceed to join in the operations. The plane has an emergency beacon locator, which usually gets activated if the aircraft crashes said defence people.
India bought 125 AN-32 aircraft in 1984. The IAF at present has a fleet of over 100 AN-32s.
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The main goal of the aircraft is to transport cargo over short and medium range air routes.
