An Indian Air Force transport aircraft has gone missing, this incident happened after the aircraft take off from an airbase located in Assam. As per to the recent report, the last contact with the aircraft — an Antonov An-32 military transport aircraft — was at about 1pm on June 3. There were total number of 13 people who were onboard the plane, comprising eight crew members as well as five passengers.
HIGHLIGHTS
- The aircraft with 8 crew members and 5 passengers took off at 12.27pm from IAF’s Jorhat air base for the Menchuka advance landing ground in Arunachal Pradesh
- A PIB statement said the aircraft last contacted ground agencies around 1pm
- “No wreckage has been sighted so far. Search operations of Army are likely to continue through the night,” it said
- The IAF plane was flying to a landing strip near the China border
- The plane had eight crew members and five passengers onboard
- In 2016, a An-32 aircraft had disappeared and was never found
After the missing of the aircraft was reported, the Indian Air Force has immediately deployed all the available resources, comprising Sukhoi Su-30 combat fighter jets and C-130 Hercules special operations aircraft, in order to search for and locate the aircraft.
Troops in the ground have also fanned out to hunt for the missing An-32.
In a recent tweet which was posted a few hours after the An-32 went missing, the Indian Air Force said that search operations for the missing plane are going to carry out into the night.
The tweet reads, “An IAF AN-32 took off from Jorhat at 1227 hrs for Menchuka ALG. Aircraft last contacted ground control at 1300 hrs. There was no further contact with the aircraft. Efforts are on to establish the whereabouts of the aircraft. 1/4″
Another tweet from Indian Air Force stated, “C-130J, AN-32 and Mi-17 of IAF and Indian Army ALH helicopter launched to locate the missing aircraft. 2/4”
The Air Force also said that there are some reports that were received of the sighting of a possible crash site. On the other hand, those reports did not turn out to be true.
The tweet reads, “Some reports of possible location of crash site were received, however, no wreckage has been sighted so far. 3/4”
About the search operation they tweeted, “IAF is coordinating with Indian Army, various government and civil agencies to locate the missing aircraft. Search operations will continue from air and by ground parties of Indian Army through the night. 4/4”
The Antonov An-32 had taken off from Jorhat which is situated in Assam and was heading to the Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground, positioned in Mechuka Valley in Arunachal Pradesh. The Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground is sited near the China border.
Just after around 35 minutes of take-off, the plane lost contact.
In the year 2016, Indian Air Force An-32 transport aircraft disappeared over the Bay of Bengal in the month of July with total number of 29 people onboard. The plane had taken off from an airbase in Chennai and it was heading in the direction of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Radar contact with the plane was lost about an hour later the An-32 took off from the Tambaram Air Force Station, Chennai.
After the disappearance of the aircraft, the Indian Air Force launched what later turn out to be India’s largest search operation for a missing plane over the sea. On the other hand, the aircraft was never found and search operations were called off on the month of September in 2016.
