Search Operation at Night to Locate Missing IAF AN-32

Guwahati, June 10, 2019:

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has planned to continue search operation on Monday night to locate the missing AN-32 aircraft.

Though helicopters and C-130s carried out search operation during the day, yet failed to locate the missing aircraft.

The missing Indian Air Force AN-32 is yet to be traced even after a week.

As the weather cleared up today, search operation for missing Indian Air Force AN-32 resumed again.

Two Mi-17 aircrafts of the Indian Air Force and ALH helicopters of the Indian Army have been pressed into service to locate the missing aircraft.

The AN-32 Transporter aircraft of Indian Air Force went missing at Arunachal Pradesh on June 3. The aircraft took off at around 1 pm from Jorhat district in Assam with 13 defence personnel.

On June 3, the aircraft had got airborne from IAF’s Jorhat Airbase in Assam for Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground in the West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Indian Air Force launched a massive search operation to trace the whereabouts of the aircraft soon after it was established that it did not reach its destination within the stipulated time.

Resources from various agencies, including ISRO were brought into the operation to enhance its effectiveness. The area of search is mountainous and heavily forested with thick undergrowth.

The weather in the area has been inclement with low clouds and rain during most hours. Combined with the inhospitable terrain, the weather has posed serious challenges to aerial search operations.

The IAF has increased the deployment of its helicopters and transport aircraft and has expanded the search area significantly since the beginning of the operations.

More and more area is being covered by airborne sensors and satellites and the imaging is being followed-up by close analysis of the data for its synergistic amalgamation in the search operations.

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