Finding no trace of the An-32 aircraft that went missing over the Bay of Bengal on July 22, two specialised vessels have now been deployed to beef up the search.
Oceanographic research vessel Samundra Ratnakar of the Geological Survey of India and research vessel Sagar Nidhi of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) will undertake sea bed profiling. Sagar Nidhi , which was in Mauritius, was specifically called in for the purpose and it joined the search on Monday, a Coast Guard officer told The Hindu on Wednesday.
“They are aiding in the sub-surface domain. They are capable of sonar search up to the depths at which the aircraft is believed to be. They are continuing their search,” the officer said.
Assistance of these vessels was requested after the searching aircraft and ships failed to pick up any signal or visible signs of the aircraft. They have submersibles, which can be sent deep once a possible location is identified.
Meanwhile, ships and aircraft of the Navy, the Coast Guard and the IAF and a submarine are continuing the search both in surface and sub-surface domains.
Scanning the sea floorAs reported earlier, the An-32s do not have an Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB), unlike modern transport aircraft or fighter aircraft. Though there are two Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs), they are fully active only for 48 hrs and then intermittently for another few days.
Now that it is 20 days since the aircraft went missing, the teams are relying on passive means by scanning the sea floor.
The depth in the general search area is about 3-3.5 km. Officials said special cells had been formed to keep the families posted on a daily basis on the search efforts.
The ill-fated An-32 took off on a routine weekly courier flight to Port Blair from Chennai on July 22 at 8-30 a.m. with six crew and 23 personnel, but never arrived at the destination. It was last seen on the radar at 9 a.m.
