Indian Military Plane Remains Untraceable After It Disappears Over Bay of Bengal With 29 Personnel On Board -Country Launches Massive Search Operation


India has launched one of its largest ever search operations to locate a military plane that mysteriously went missing over the Bay of Bengal. The plane had 29 military personnel on board.

A large transporter plane, designated AN-32, carrying 29 personnel, suddenly lost all contact with ground control as it was flying over the Bay of Bengal. The plane had taken off from Chennai on India’s southeast coast to Port Blair, in the Indian-owned Andaman Islands. Merely 45 minutes after take-off, the plane vanished from the radar and all attempts to establish contact and resume communications, failed, shared Indian Air Force (IAF).

According to official records, the aircraft, dubbed the workhorse of the IAF, was supposed to take from Tambaram in Chennai at 8:30 a.m. local time yesterday and land at Port Blair, about 11.30 a.m. on the same day. It was pretty much a routine flight. The plane was merely ferrying 29 personnel, including a flight crew of six, and no military equipment, to islands near the Malacca Straits where India has a military base. While the plane took off right on schedule, it didn’t land at the designated airport on the island. According to the radar, the military plane had reached an altitude of 23,000 feet when it lost all contact.

Incidentally, the flight duration is of three hours, but the plane has the capability of flying non-stop for around four hours, before needing refueling, reported The Sun. India has about 105 AN-32 aircraft. The planes were imported from Ukraine, Russia. The AN-32 is essentially the Soviet-era Antonov cargo plane. It is a versatile plane that can be outfitted for a variety of missions. It has been used to ferry people as well as equipment. The plane has even served to airlift Indians stranded in remote or hostile regions.

Initially, it was assumed there could be some glitch in communication and the plane was considered to be “overdue.” However, Indian authorities have now deemed the aircraft and the personnel as “missing.” IAF, in association with the Navy and Coast Guard, have now launched a massive coordinated search operation in the Bay of Bengal for the missing military plane. According to Reuters, additional military assets are expected to be called in to assist the search that is quite large. Surveillance planes and any maritime vessel in the vicinity are also expected to be involved. Reports indicate an Indian submarine has been asked to change course and head to the area where the plane lost contact.

According to the Metro, apart from the submarine, 16 ships and six planes have begun combing the region, looking for signs of the missing aircraft that was said to be on a “routine resupply mission.” Moreover, two high-tech naval surveillance planes, four other naval and coast guard planes, will lend high-resolution imagery as well as echolocation capabilities to the search operation.

The plane made no emergency contact with ground control, shared IAF spokesperson Anupam Banerjee.

“No distress signal was issued to my knowledge. There was no emergency communication message received from the plane. There is nothing to suggest what exactly happened.”

The Bay of Bengal is currently experiencing the monsoon season and torrential rain is commonly accompanied by strong winds. However, weather conditions appear to have been ruled out as the cause of the military plane’s disappearance, indicated Banerjee.

“Weather conditions were prevailing pre-monsoon, but nothing extraordinarily different for this time of year.”

Unconfirmed reports claim the plane took a sharp left turn and dramatically lost elevation moments before it went missing. However, the military has refused to release or confirm any information so far, reported The Telegraph.

[Photo by Tauseef Mustafa/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images]

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