The Navy has deployed 12 ships and two aircraft in a full-fledged Search and Rescue mission to locate the An 32 aircraft en route to Port Blair from Chennai which has been reported missing since 9 am on Friday morning.
Eastern Fleet Commander Rear Adm S.V. Bokhare is aboard the INS Sahyadri from Port Blair. “The Navy is fully mobilised,” the Navy spokesperson said. Two P-8I long range maritime patrol aircraft with advanced electro-optics and radars, two Dornier aircraft and 12 ships with integral helicopters are part of the search operations, a Navy release stated.
The distance between Chennai and Port Blair is about 750 nautical miles or 1,200 kilometres. The search and rescue has been expanded on this axis.
Locator beaconIn the case of a crash the locator beacon on an aircraft gets activated and can transmit signals to the search teams for a few days. The search mission is now trying to locate such signals and spot crash debris.
The ships deployed for the search operation include Sahyadri, Rajput, Ranvijay, Kamorta, Kirch, Karmuk, Kora, Kuthar, Shakti, Jyoti, Ghariyal and Sukanya . A Navy submarine has also been diverted from its mission to seek transmission of the locator beacon from underwater.
In addition, the Coast Guard has moved five ships, ICGS Vishvast , Rajveer from Port Blair while Sagar , Samudra Pehredar were sent from Chennai. Two Dornier aircraft have also been pressed into service.
Coast Guard on siteCoast Guard Director General Rajendra Singh told The Hindu their two ships were the first to reach the last known location of the An 32. He identified “Coast Guard sailor R.M. Krishnan” as being on board the missing aircraft.
“With the initial inputs, the search operation is going on some 150 nautical miles east off Chennai. A total of 12 ships and many aircraft, including Navy’s P-8I and Dornier are involved in the search and rescue operations. No uniformed Navy personnel were on board the aircraft,” Rear Admiral Alok Bhatnagar, Flag Officer of Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area told The Hindu .
