‘Intermittent signals may be from missing aircraft’

In a possible indication of the missing Coast Guard aircraft Dornier CG 791 crashing into the sea, the Navy’s hydrographic survey ship, INS Sandhayak, has detected “intermittent” transmission signals, which was “likely” from the aircraft off the Karaikal coast.

The signals were being detected almost around the same location where the aircraft was last seen before going missing from the radar screens – some 16 nautical miles off the Chidambaram coast, a Coast Guard official said.

“The intermittent signals detected by the ship under the sea surface and the frequency we were looking for are the same and so we presume that the signals are from the missing aircraft,” he said.

While undertaking sub surface search, the Navy ship detected the transmission of 37.5 Khz around the position where the Dornier lost contact with the Air Traffic Control.

Though the search team was able to sight “multi-coloured sheen of oil in concentric circles” in the same area, indicating oozing of oil in area under focus, the patch eventually “evaporated.”

“Even the sample that was collected from the area evaporated and only the seawater remained. Since aviation fuel is very volatile, we presume it could be from the missing aircraft. May be all the fuel left in the aircraft came out and eventually evaporated and so the patch couldn’t be seen anymore,” he explained.

Submarine to assist

The team continued to search the location, which is reportedly around 700 metres deep from the sea surface, as submarine INS Sindhudvaj was expected to reach later on Saturday.

Reliance India Limited has also been approached to extend services of multi-support vessel with remotely operated underwater vehicle for underwater operations, an official release said.

The CG 791 went missing with three officers on board after losing contact with the Air Traffic Control off the Karaikal coast at 9.23 p.m. on Monday.