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.
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The AN-32 aircraft took off from the southern city of Chennai at 8.30 a.m. and was flying over the water to the city of Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, said Nitin Wakankar a spokesman for India’s defence ministry.
The massive search operation has been launched for tracking the upgraded plane which made the last radio contact at 0846 hours, 16 minutes after take off from Tambaram air base. The plane went off the radar soon after take-off, sources said.
This is the first time ever an AN 32 has disappeared over the Bay of Bengal.
It was last detected151 nautical miles east of Chennai, making a left turn before rapidly losing height.
Rescue operations including five Five military planes and four Navy warships have been dispatched to assist rescue efforts in Bay of Bengal.
One Indian naval submarine was also diverted to detect, seek the transmissions of Locator Beacon of the missing aircraft, he added.
The IAF said it has deployed 1 C-130 and 1An 32 to look for the missing aircraft.
“We have deployed Coast Guard aircraft and ships to search for the plane”, a Coast Guard Official told IANS.
The aircraft can fly for up to four hours without refuelling.
In 2013, all 20 people on board a military helicopter were killed when it crashed in northern India.
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The skeletal remains of the three crew members were recovered after over a month of extensive search operations.
