The Coastal Security Group of the Tamil Nadu Police has joined the search operations to trace CG 791 along the coasts of Nagapattinam and Cuddalore districts and Karaikal of the Union Territory of Puducherry.
Acting swiftly on an alert received before the crack of dawn on Tuesday, the CSG of Nagapattinam zone deployed its 12-tonne Fast Interceptor Boat (FIB) to carry out the search operations between Nagapattinam and towards its northern direction.
Simultaneously, CSG personnel kept the fishermen associations of the coastal places, including Thirumullaivasal, Poompuhar and Nagore, informed about the missing aircraft and asked them to alert in case they noticed any strange object floating in the mid-sea.
Around 200 police personnel, who were ready for Operation Hamla, a mock drill to check the efficacy of security agencies in the event of an exigency from 5 am at Puducherry, were deployed immediately after the drill was called off.
The police personnel combed the vast area of Pichavaram mangrove forest and coastal areas for several hours on boats of the Forest Department.
A Coast Guard official said messages were communicated over radio and other modes to the fishermen.
Sources added the operation would continue with boats, ships and aircraft through the night from south of Chennai to Point Calimere.
Although the missing aircraft was not equipped with the advanced ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast) facility, the Tiruchi Air Traffic Control was able to monitor its movement for some time on Monday late night.
This was due to the radar data sent from the Chennai international airport to the Tiruchi airport where it is integrated into the air traffic automation system.
The same information was available with the radar controller in Chennai, the sources said.
The Tiruchi air traffic controller was able to monitor the aircraft 106 nautical miles north-east of Tiruchi air space on Monday night before it went missing, the sources said, adding that this proved to be a valuable piece of information to carry out the search operations.
