Missing IAF plane;Parrikar in Chennai
posted on Jul 23, 2016 @ 10:11AM
24 hours on and still there is no news on the missing Indian Air Force AN-32 aircraft. The missing plane had 29 people on board - 11 IAF personnel, one Navy, one Army and a coast guard member along with eight civilians and crew. The aircraft on Friday suddenly dropped off the sky over the Bay of Bengal on its way to Port Blair from Chennai. According to sources the plane was flying at a height of 23,000 feet - forty minutes after it took off from the Tamabaram airport at 8.30 am -when it took a sharp left turn and suddenly lost altitude. The last blip on the radar was at 9:12 am.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar will visit Tambaram air base near Chennai on Saturday to personally monitor the search and rescue operations. Parrikar, who was briefed by IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, will get a detailed briefing on the search and rescue operations being undertaken by the Navy, Air Force and the Coast Guard. The Indian Navy has deployed SAROps 18 Naval & ICG ships with P8I,C130 & Dornier aircrafts to locate the plane. It is also being reported that the missing plane had reported at least three technical snags in the recent past.