Satellites, spy planes roped in to locate missing AN-32 Aircraft

New Delhi: ISRO satellites and Naval P-8I spy planes have been pressed into service to locate the wreckage of the missing AN-32 aircraft which went missing Monday afternoon with 13 IAF personnel on board.

"Satellites of the ISRO and other agencies have been pressed into service over parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam to locate the missing An-32 transport aircraft with 13 people on board. Su-30MKI, C-130J Super Hercules and other assets are continuing search operations in cloudy weather," sources in IAF said in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, the Navy said that it's Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft P8I took off from INS Rajali in Arakonam, Tamil Nadu, at 1 pm for joining the search and rescue operation.

Officials said the wreckage of the AN-32 transport aircraft which went missing on Monday in Arunachal Pradesh has not been sighted so far.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has been apprised of the situation by the Air Force.

The Antonov AN-32 with 13 personnel including seven officers and six air warriors on board went missing in Arunachal Pradesh after getting air-borne from Assam's Jorhat.

The aircraft took off from Jorhat at 12:25 pm and was headed for Menchuka Advance Landing Ground (ALG) in Arunachal Pradesh near China border. The last contact between the aircraft and ground agencies took place at 1 pm on Monday.

The Soviet-era aircraft was inducted in the Air Force in the 1980s and have been undergoing upgrades. The missing plane is not part of the upgraded AN-32 fleet of the Air Force.

Three years ago, on July 22, 2016, an airborne AN-32 aircraft had gone missing with 29 people on board. The aircraft was travelling from Chennai to Port-Blair in Andaman and Nicobar when it went missing over the Bay of Bengal.