Even after one month, no clue to missing IAF plane

It has been a month and still there is no news on the Indian Air Force An-32 plane that had gone missing with 28 people on board, including eight employees of the Naval Armament Depot (NAD) from Visakhapatnam.

The uncertainty is breaking down the families from all sides and they say that information on the search and rescue operation, from the naval side, has reduced to a trickle. But still they have not lost hope.

Many of the family members are suffering from nervous breakdown, including 25-year-old Easwari, wife of G. Srinivasa Rao, one among the missing, who was admitted to a hospital for treatment. She has a two-year-old girl child and is three months pregnant.

Does Navy have the technology?

While it is now almost certain that the plane had gone missing over the Bay Bengal, when on its way from Chennai to Port Blair on July 22, till date the navy has not found any clue on its whereabouts.

According to the Navy, a total of 261 sorties had been flown and it is learnt that research vessels Samudra Ratnakar of Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Sagar Nidhi of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), which have been pressed into service, have found some anomalies and are investigating, but there is no confirmation.

Sources say the Navy does not have the technology to conduct deep sea search and rescue operation, despite having a full-fledged submarine arm. There is no deep sea rescue vessel (DSRV) in its possession and it has to depend on the U.S. or Russia.

Last time, when a Coast Guard Dornier went missing, the naval submarines and hydrographic vessels could pinpoint the location at 950 m depth, but the Navy had to borrow the Reliance’s Olympic Canyon to retrieve the flight data recorder.

Sources in the Navy say that the An-32 can be lying at a depth of 3,500 m, which is about 3.5 km vertically down, and the sea bed terrain is highly uneven in that region.

Most importantly, some of the officers have expressed doubts on the life and operational condition of the battery of the emergency sonar in the flight, which is expected to emit the beeps in the event of a mishap.

“We have already expressed our doubt on the airworthiness of the aircraft and also demanded a high-level enquiry on it, as there were reports that there was some problem with the throttle, door pressure leakage and hydraulics of the aircraft,” said Mr. Kiran, brother-in-law of Prasada Babu, who is in the list of missing.

Sources in the Navy say that the An-32 can be lying at a depth of 3,500 m, which is about 3.5 km vertically down, and the sea bed terrain is highly uneven in that region