Rescue teams seek satellite imagery as hunt continues
CHENNAI/VISHAKHAPATNAM: Search and rescue teams have sought satellite imagery to trace the Indian Air Force’s missing AN32 aircraft, more than two days after it disappeared with 29 people aboard while flying over the Bay of Bengal.
At least 18 navy and coast guard ships, besides eight aircraft and a submarine, are hunting for the Port Blairbound transport plane that went missing after it took off from the Tambaram air base near Chennai at 8 am on July 22. “There is no sign of the plane yet,” a senior defence official said.
“The search operation is being taken up on a 24-hour basis, and all resources at our disposal are being used. We have also sought satellite information,” vice-admiral HCS Bisht, chief of the Eastern Naval Command, said at Vishakhapatnam.
“The depth of the water there is about 3,500 metres, and even more in some places. As the depth increases, the challenges also increase,” he said, adding that the inclement weather – rain and winds – were hampering the efforts of rescue officials.
Meanwhile, air force authorities lodged a formal complaint about the missing aircraft with the Tamil Nadu police. “We have received a complaint that the AN32 transport aircraft has gone missing,” a senior police officer said on Sunday. “The complaint was lodged last night with the Selaiyur police.”
The missing people included a Tamilian, he added.
The complaint was lodged for strictly legal purposes. A similar complaint was filed last year, when the Coast Guard’s Dornier aircraft went missing. The wreckage of the aircraft and the bodies of its crew members were later found off Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu.