An Indian Air Force (IAF) AN-32 transport plane carrying 29 people, which mostly consisted of military personnel, is missing after it took off on Friday morning. A lot of efforts are taken to locate the plane. More than 12 navy and coast guard ships are looking for the aircraft in the Bay of Bengal. A submarine has also been diverted for the search.
The Russian-made AN-32 was on its way to Port Blair, from Chennai when it disappeared from radar. Due to monsoons the weather had been rough near the Bay of Bengal since the past two days which might be the reason of the plane missing. It has been more than 24 hours that the plane is missing. Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar will visit Chennai today to oversee search operations.
“All efforts are being made to trace the missing plane and the service personnel on board,” said Mr Parrikar. According to a note provided by the air force to the Defence Ministry, the aircraft was last detected on radar, 151 nautical miles east of Chennai, making a left turn with a rapid loss of height from 23,000 ft.
There were 21 military personnel on board including six crew. The other people on board were civilians and some family members of soldiers deployed on the islands. The plane has an emergency beacon locator, which is activated when there is a crash. The Navy submarine is expected to track underwater signals from the locator. It has also sent five surveillance aircraft including a Dornier, and 13 ships as follows- Sahyadri, Rajput, Ranvijay, Kamorta, Kirch, Karmuk, Kora, Kuthar, Shakti, Jyoti, Ghariyal and Sukanya.
