In a shocking incident an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane carrying 29 people has gone missing over the Bay of Bengal. The incident happened when AN-32 of IAF took off from Tambaram in Chennai and headed for Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The plane lost its contact around 8.45 AM and its expected arrival in Port Blair was 11.30 AM.
Intense search operation was launched by the Indian Navy, the Coast Guard and the IAF. 6 are the crew members of the 29 people. Navy's P81 aircraft, a Donier aircraft and four ships, Karmukh,Gharial ,Jyothi and Kuthar are in the search operations.
The aircraft can fly without refuelling for four hours. Bad weather could be the reason behind the missing plane. When routine messages didnot arrive from the plane,Chennai airport and airforce authorities alerted the other planes but when the blip was not tracked, it was declared missing.
Massive search operatins are underway with Two AN32 and C130 from IAF is conducting operations along with the Navy. The plane's last contact was with the Russian-built Antonov AN-32 military transport plane 15 minutes after its take off from Chennai.
