The search for the missing Dornier of the Coast Guard has received a boost with a remote-operated vessel (ROV) of Reliance Industries joining the underwater search operation 10 days after the aircraft went off the radar near Puducherry.
The Coast Guard’s search operation now involves nine ships, including a submarine and the ROV, apart from 10 boats and a host of small fishing vessels.
“Our aircraft are chipping in with the aerial survey,” Coast Guard Inspector-General (Eastern Region) S.P. Sharma told The Hindu on the telephone from Chennai.
The Dornier, with two pilots and a navigator, went missing off the Puducherry coast on the night of June 8. It was on a surveillance mission along the coastline of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The ROV, hired by Reliance for its activities, has been redeployed on the Coast Guard’s request. The National Institute of Ocean Technology has also redeployed its survey ship from its current operations on the equator.
The Navy has four warships, one survey vessel and a submarine in the operation. The Coast Guard and the Coastal Security Group have deployed eight small craft for a near-shore search and fishermen have pitched in with their own boats, the officer said.
The seafloor in the area being searched has a steep slope, going down to 800 m in some areas. Further, the southward sea currents make it more difficult for the search operation.
For the families of the missing crew, this has been a traumatic experience. Contacted over the phone from Visakhaptanam, a close relative of the pilot, Deputy Commandant D. Vidyasagar, said, “They (Navy and the Coast Guard) have been doing their job 1000 per cent. Officials of the Ministry (of Defence) are regularly in touch with us.”
Mr. Vidyasagar is the son of a retired employee of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust and has a four-year old son. “He is professionally very competent and an excellent human being,” a colleague told The Hindu. As soon as news of the missing aircraft was conveyed to them, Vidyasagar’s parents left for Chennai. Close relatives from Visakhapatnam joined them on Thursday.
