An Indian Air Force (IAF) transport aircraft with 13 persons on board has gone missing hours after it took off from Assam’s Jorhat airbase for Menchuka Advance Landing Ground in Arunachal Pradesh.
According to reports, the Antonov AN-32 aircraft had last contacted ground sources at 1 pm Monday after taking off from Jorhat airbase at 12:25 pm.
The Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground is located near the China border.
The IAF has launched Sukhoi-30 combat aircraft and C-130 Special Operations aircraft on a search mission to locate the missing AN-32 jet.
Following the disappearance of the aircraft, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Vice Chief of IAF, Air Marshal Rakesh Singh Bhadauria regarding the missing jet.
Air Marshal Bhadauria apprised Singh of the steps taken by IAF to find the aircraft.
In July 2016, Indian Air Force An-32 aircraft went missing over the Bay of Bengal with 29 people on board.
The government informed the then Lok Sabha of no survivors on board the aircraft.
Following the disappearance, the Indian Air Force launched what later became India’s largest search operation for a missing plane over the sea. The aircraft was never found and search operations were called off on September 2016.
30 floating objects were located but no “concrete” evidence has yet been found.
The ill-fated AN-32 had taken off on a routine courier flight to Port Blair from Tambaram air base near Chennai on 22 July at 8.30 am with six crew and 23 personnel, but never arrived at the destination. It was last seen on radars at 9 am.