Even after three days of continued search and rescue operation, the Indian Air Force, Army and civil administration of Arunachal Pradesh have failed to trace the AN-32 aircraft that went missing on Monday from near the Indo-China border in Arunachal Pradesh.
Defence spokesman Wing Commander Ratnakar Singh said that the search and rescue operation started in the morning on Wednesday.
“While SU30 has carried out recce since morning, two Mi-17 and two ALH, including one from Army also deployed in the day to search for the missing AN 32,” he said adding that no wreckage has been spotted so far.
Also read: IAF’s AN 32 aircraft goes missing along China border
He said the Army, ITBP, local police and other state agencies have also been carrying out operations on the ground to locate the missing AN-32.
Also read: Navy unites with IAF and Army to search the missing AN 32
“Search and rescue operation is still on with helicopters and C-130J in air. All sensors are deployed to locate the aircraft,” he said adding that the forces will start the operation again on Thursday morning.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has summoned the technically superior P-8I aircraft from the INS Rajali, Arakonam in Tamil Nadu to help the search and rescue operation for the AN-32 aircraft that went missing from the skies of Arunachal Pradesh on Monday.
Also read: Arunachal: Missing AN-32 comes as reminder for similar tragedy decade back
On Tuesday, the Indian Navy’s long range Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft, P-8 I had also carried out search operations but failed to trace the missing AN-32.
The IAF had already launched a massive search and rescue operation involving C-130J, AN-32 and Mi-17 aircrafts of the IAF ALH helicopter of the Indian Army to search for the missing AN-32 aircraft.
Apart from this, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has also pressed into service of satellites like RISAT to help the rescuers in conducting search and rescue operations regarding the missing AN-32.