The daunting search for the missing air force aircraft is finally over. The wreckage of aircraft with 13 on board has been found in Arunachal Pradesh, the Indian Air Force confirmed on Tuesday. The aircraft went missing on June 3.
The Air Force plans to air drop search teams, including Garud commandos, mountaineers and other ground forces tomorrow morning to search the area for more wreckage, news agency ANI has reported.
“Efforts are now continuing to establish the status of occupants and establish survivors,” the Air Force tweeted.
The wreckage of the missing #An32 was spotted today 16 Kms North of Lipo, North East of Tato at an approximate elevation of 12000 ft by the #IAF Mi-17 Helicopter undertaking search in the expanded search zone..
— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) June 11, 2019
Teams from the Army, Navy and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) troops, supported by night-time sensors, worked through the night. The Air Force said the search area had been expanded despite challenges posed by vegetation, inhospitable terrain and poor weather.
Family members of the crew had been waiting at Jorhat in Assam for any news.
The search was difficult because of the tough terrain and bad weather. The spot where the plane had been flying is mountainous and heavily forested; landing and take-off at Mechuka are extremely difficult. Coupled with erratic weather, the region is among the world’s most inhospitable for air transport.
The plane’s Search and Rescue Beacon had not been in production for 14 years, and no signal had been detected. This distress signal was meant to have been picked up by a satellite belonging to Cospas-Sarsat, an international satellite-aided search and rescue facility. (With inputs from Agencies)