AN 32 Aircraft of Indian Air Force Goes Missing In Bay of Bengal; Navy Coast Guard launch SAR Ops

Shailesh Kumar,
New Delhi, 22 July 2016
An Antonov 32 aircraft of Indian Air Force (IAF) with 29 defence personnel onboard is missing in Bay of Bengal. "An IAF AN 32 aircraft travelling from Chennai to Port Blair on a courier flight with Service personnel, ETA at Port Blair 1130 hrs is overdue. Search is on", a statement issued by Ministry of Defrnce.

Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard has launched full scale Search and Rescue Operation while IAF confirms aircraft is overdue. Full scale Search & Rescue Operation launched to search for IAF aircraft in Bay of Bengal. On P8 I & one Dorniers launched.....four ships Karmukh, Gharual Jyoti & Kuthar diverted to join in SAR at full speed....more assets being despatched shortly.

The aircraft has endurance of 4 hours flight and it tool off from Chennai (Tambaram) at 08:30am.