AN-32, a transport aircarft of the Indian Air Force mysteriously disappeared about a week ago with 29 people on board while flying over the Bay Of Bengal. Here's all you need to know about the aircraft, its sudden disappearance and sequence of events in the matter.
Date of disappearance : 22 July 2016
Place of origin : Tambaram airbase (Chennai, Tamil Nadu)
Destination (headed to) : Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Islands)
Take-off time : 8:30 am
Flight went off the radar : 9:12 am
Expected time of arrival : 10:30 am
Type of flight: Routine courier flight
Date of disappearance : 22 July 2016
Place of origin : Tambaram airbase (Chennai, Tamil Nadu)
Destination (headed to) : Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Islands)
Take-off time : 8:30 am
Flight went off the radar : 9:12 am
Expected time of arrival : 10:30 am
Type of flight: Routine courier flight
Passengers on Board (29)
Crew members : 6
IAF Personnel : 11
Army : 2
Navy : 1
Coast Guard : 1
Civilians : 8
Details of the search and rescue operations
- 17 ships (13 from the Navy and four from the CG)
- 12 aircraft (8 from the Navy and 2 each from the IAF and CG)
- Five helicopters of the Navy
- A submarine of Navy
- Satellite imagery using CARTOSAT 2A and 2B which have the ability to cover areas of the swath of 27x27 km with a resolution of 0.8 metres.
Progress of the operations
After intense aerial and surface scanning, the operations are now significantly shifting under water.
In words of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar " Many floating objects have been found in the area and possible transmissions have been picked up by satellite imagery, however no concrete evidence has emerged so far. "
After intense aerial and surface scanning, the operations are now significantly shifting under water.
In words of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar " Many floating objects have been found in the area and possible transmissions have been picked up by satellite imagery, however no concrete evidence has emerged so far. "
About AN-32 aircraft
The Indian Air Force reportedly has a fleet of 105 AN-32s in service.
- The AN-32, a twin-engine aircraft, is primarily used as a cargo flight.
- In this case, it was carrying 29 people on board – 23 personnel and six crew.
- The aircraft has the capacity to transport either 7.5 tonnes of cargo or fifty passengers.
- There are ten variants of the AN-32: An-32A, An-32B, An-32B-100, An-32B-110, An-32B-120, An-32B-300, An-32LL, An-32MP, An-32P firekiller and An-32B-200.
(Courtesy : Indian Express)
From the history...
Similar incident took place when an Indian Air Force plane AN-12-BL-534 simply vanished as it made its way from Chandigarh to Leh. The aircraft with 98 defence personnel disappeared, intensive search for which did not lead to any success.
In 2003, 35 years after the plane went missing, a trekking party in Spiti region of Northern Himachal found the remains of a human corpse which was soon identified as that of Indian Army soldier Beli Ram, one of the passengers on board AN-12. Subsequently the cause behind the incident was found to be that the flight had descended before expected and had fallen into the Dakka glacier.
Similar incident took place when an Indian Air Force plane AN-12-BL-534 simply vanished as it made its way from Chandigarh to Leh. The aircraft with 98 defence personnel disappeared, intensive search for which did not lead to any success.
In 2003, 35 years after the plane went missing, a trekking party in Spiti region of Northern Himachal found the remains of a human corpse which was soon identified as that of Indian Army soldier Beli Ram, one of the passengers on board AN-12. Subsequently the cause behind the incident was found to be that the flight had descended before expected and had fallen into the Dakka glacier.
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