An Indian Air Force transport aircraft has gone missing after taking off from an airbase in Assam. The last contact with the military transport was at around 1pm today.
13 people were onboard the plane, including eight crew members and five passengers.
The Indian Air Force has deployed all available resources, including Sukhoi Su-30 combat fighter jets and C-130 Hercules special operations aircraft, to locate the aircraft.
Troops in the ground too have fanned out to hunt for the missing An-32.
“I Spoke to vice chief of Indian Airforce (IAF) Air Marshal Rakesh Singh Bhadauria, regarding the missing aircraft which is overdue for some hours,’’ Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Twitter.
The IAF initiated an overdue action and employed all its resources to locate the aircraft. A Sukhoi-30MKI, C-130 Special Operations aircraft were deployed on a search mission.
“Efforts are on to establish the whereabouts of the aircraft. C-130J, AN-32 and Mi-17 of IAF and Indian Army ALH helicopter launched to locate the missing aircraft. Some reports of possible location of crash site were received, however, no wreckage has been sighted so far. 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,” IAF PRO Wing Commander Ratnakar Singh said in a statement.
