Rain washes out MiG-27 rescue operation

Search and rescue operations by Indian Air Force helicopters to trace a MiG-27, which went missing in North Bengal yesterday, was called off today.

IAF’s Mi-8 choppers, which were searching in different places, had to call off their rescue operations as heavy rains lashed the region, a defence spokesman said here today. Search operations would begin afresh tomorrow, he said. The fighter aircraft on a training sortie with Flying Officer Sinha took off at 11.55 am yesterday from Hashimara airbase en route to Bagdogra in North Bengal and lost contact with Bagdogra Air Traffic Control at 1209 hours.

Meanwhile, Senior Air Staff Officer of Eastern Air Command, Air Marshal S.Y. Savur, has rushed to ashimara to oversee rescue operations.

The operations to locate the missing jet began at 12.40 pm yesterday but had to be called off in the afternoon following heavy rains in the North Bengal hills. The IAF has also informed Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan governments about the missing MiG-27 as the place of occurrence was near the ‘chicken’s neck’ in North Bengal. But no response have been received from any of the administrations, he said.