Search and rescue: Navy may be close to locating lost Dornier aircraft

The Dornier aircraft CG-791, belonging to the Coast Guard, with three crew members on board, was deployed for surveillance along the Tamil Nadu coast and Palk Bay from the Coast Guard Air Station, Chennai.

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The last contact with the aircraft was at about 9 pm on June 8, and the Trichy radar tracked the aircraft until 10.23 pm at 95 nautical miles south of Chennai.

“INS Sandhyak which is undertaking sub-surface search has detected intermittent transmission of 37.5 Khz, likely to be from the Sonar Locator Beacon ( SLB) of the missing aircraft. The transmission is around the position where the ATC had lost contact with the aircraft. INS Sandhayak is a hydrographic survey vessel of the Navy equipped with underwater detection equipment to detect transmission from SLB of an aircraft,” a Coast Guard statement said.

The Navy is in touch with the family members of the three air crew members on board CG-791 and is updating them with the latest information.

#ICGDornier 1st Pic. Multi-coloured oil seen in concentric circles indicating oozing of oil in area under focus. pic.twitter.com/Cr8OQNTw6D

— Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) June 13, 2015

Further, a multi-coloured sheen of oil in concentric circles was sighted, which indicated oozing of oil. “The sample of oil has been sent to the laboratory for analysis,” the statement said. Navy submarine INS Sindhudhvaj joined the operation on Saturday. A total of 10 Coast Guard and Navy vessels along with two aircraft have been pressed into action to locate the missing aircraft.

Other than the defence agencies, assistance is also being sought from the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) for analysis of area’s satellite imagery to determine the possible location of the aircraft. The National Centre for Ocean Information Services has been requested to join the operation and identify the most probable area.

The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has also been approached for oceanographic analyses of the area around the datum. NIOT has deployed its research vessel Sagar Nidhi. Private sector company.

Reliance India Limited too has been approached by the Navy to extend services of the Multi Support Vessel ( MSV) with remotely operated underwater vehicle for underwater operations.

The mishap comes soon after a Navy Dornier aircraft plunged into the Arabian Sea off the Goa coast while undertaking a routine night training sortie on March 24. Two air crew members, including a woman observer, Lieutenant Kiran Shekhawat, were killed in the accident.