IAF aircraft with 29 on board goes missing over Bay of Bengal
An Indian Air Force plane with 29 people on board today went missing in the Bay of Bengal while flying from southern city of Chennai to Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Antonov AN 32, a twin-engined turboprop military transport aircraft, took off from Tambaram airbase near Chennai for Port Blair shortly after 8:00am when it lost contact with the radar, reports The Times of India.
The IAF, Navy and Coast Guard have launched a joint search and rescue operation.
Meanwhile, officials at the Ministry of Defence and Navy are closely monitoring the case.
All the coastal security establishments in Andaman and Nicobar have been put on high alert.
Captain D K Sharma, Public Relations Officer of Indian Navy, said, “We have launched two P-8I aircrafts, one of which was diverted, and three Dornier aircrafts for locating the missing plane.”
Personnel on board the missing Indian Air Force An-32 include 1 from Coast Guard, 11 Navy personnel, 3 Air Force pilots and 2 from Andaman Command, said an India Today report.
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