The joint team of Indian Air Force, Army and civil administration have failed to trace the AN-32 aircraft that remained missing since Monday afternoon from the skies of Arunachal Pradesh along the Indo-China border.
“The P-8i of Indian Navy undertook a search mission from Arakonnam this morning. The helicopters, transport aircraft, UAVs and other sensors are involved in extensive search and rescue whenever weather is permitting,” said Shillong based defence spokesperson wing commander Ratnakar Singh.
He said the search area continues to expand to look at all possibilities.
“All electronic, radar, optical and infrared sensors including satellites are being employed to scan the area for any probable clues,” he said adding that Indian Army, police, state government, paramilitary forces and local population are lending crucial support in search operations.
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Singh said the Army search parties have been in the area for over two days, going through thick forest trying to locate the aircraft.
Senior Air Staff Officer of Eastern Air Command is coordinating and supervising search operations at Along, he said.
Singh further said that IAF is in regular touch with the families of missing air warriors.
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“All possible assistance is being provided to the families. Some family members met the Defence Minister Jun 6 and they were briefed about the search efforts,” he said adding that AOC-in-C, Eastern Air Command, Air Marshal RD Mathur had earlier met the families of missing air warriors at Jorhat.
IAF is not sparing any effort in locating the missing air warriors. We stand in support of the families in these difficult times, he said.
The IAF had already deployed services of four Mi-17, three ALH, two Su-30 MKI, one C-130, two Cheetah helicopters and one Army UAV to carry out the search.