Meanwhile, the search for the missing aircraft entered the fourth day with almost 17 ships from the Navy and Coast Guard besides aircraft from the three services carrying out sorties.
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The Indian Air Force Chief Arup Raha, Monday, said that a thorough enquiry will be conducted into the missing AN-32 aircraft – that has in all probability crashed into the Bay of Bengal.
Rajan Bargotra, Indian coast guard commander and inspector general of the eastern region, said that once the presence of debris and survivors are ruled out, the next step would be an underwater search.
“We have not been able to locate debris or survivor in the seas”, he said.
The search area has been expanded from the initial 14,400 square nautical miles.
On challenges being faced in the search operations, Bargotra said the weather which was bad had improved since Sunday.
An Indian Navy submarine has also been diverted to the area to try and detect transmissions of the locator beacon of the missing aircraft.
“The ministry of defence (MoD) has appointed a senior rank official to coordinate with the families of the 29 people and keep them informed and provide support in this hour of difficulty”, a senior functionary told here even as the IAF has registered a missing FIR with Chennai police now.
“There have been only two reported accidents in the last 10 years”.
“Yes, it is a fact that in more than one case, ELT did not operate”, the official said.
The Admiral further said that they have received image inputs from satellite images plus also the sensors of the aircraft, adding that all leads have been followed.
“We have requested the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) for their vessel for the search operations”, he added. Bargotra said once the search was done close to the datum position (real position) and there was no trace of debris or survivors, the search was expanded based on the surface drift which was predominating that area. The last radio contact with the aircraft was around 8.46 am.
“Radar contact with the aircraft was lost when the aircraft was east of Chennai at an approximate distance of 270 km”.
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Those on board the AN-32 included six crew members, 15 personnel from the IAF, army, navy and Coast Guard, and eight civilians who were family members of the personnel.
