IAF plane with 29 people on board goes missing

The AN-32 of Indian Air Force aircraft with 29 members on board took off from Chennai city in southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu at 08:30 a.m. local time on Friday.

A soldier stands guard as an Indian Air Force AN-32 transport aircraft carrying security personnel takes-off from the technical airport in Jammu, February 9, 2008.

The plane has an emergency beacon locator, which usually gets activated if there is a crash.

While IAF has pressed into service a C130 plane along with two AN32, the Navy has deployed two P8i maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft from the strategically important Port Blair, home to India’s only tri-service command.

A total of 19 ships (13 from the Navy and six from the CG) and 12 aircraft (8 from the Navy and 2 each from the IAF and CG) are part of the operations.

Twelve naval ships were diverted from their missions to be part of the search operation, the Defense Ministry said.

“The operation is still going on.the rescue team, including the navy, air force and the coast guard are still searching”, a senior official in the defence ministry told DH.

The recorded transcript of Chennai air traffic radar showed the last pickup of the aircraft was 151 nautical miles east of Chennai when it was observed to have carried out a left turn with rapid loss of height from 23,000 feet. “IAF authorities are in constant touch with the family members of the missing personnel and they are being regularly updated about the efforts being made to trace the missing aircraft and personnel”, he said.

Indian air force spokesman Anupam Banerjee says the last communication from the aircraft was about 15 minutes after takeoff.

AN-32s are the IAF’s workhorse aircraft and are capable of flying for up to four hours without refuelling.

All AN-32 aircraft are expected to be upgraded by 2016, before eventually being replaced by the Indo-Russian Multi-role transport aircraft Il-214.

The plane that operates service to Port Blair on alternate days carries defence personnel and supplies for them.

Meanwhile, the massive search operations for the AN-32 aircraft involving multiple agencies continued for the third consecutive day.