Chennai: As the intensive search for the missing IAF AN-32 transport plane with 29 people on board enters the fourth day, a top Coast Guard official says no debris or survivors have been located yet.
"As of now, no debris or survivors have been found... 13 Naval vessels, 2 Coast Guard ships besides assets from Andaman and Nicobar islands are engaged in the operations," Coast Guard Commander (East) Inspector General Rajan Bargotra said at a press conference.
"We have not been able to locate debris or survivor in the seas," he said.
The Coast Guard is coordinating the search operations for the AN-32 aircraft which went off radar 16 minutes after taking off from Tambaram Airbase on its way to Port Blair on July 22.
Bargotra said in the last four days, the area of search operation had expanded. Stating that a linear search was conducted side by side, he said, "We are picking up some items but they don't belong to the aircraft. Currently, the search is continuous."
On challenges being faced, Bargotra said the weather had been rough, but had improved since Sunday.
Referring to the absence of beacons from the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) of the aircraft, he said signals from it would have made the rescue task easier. He said the next step would be to go in for underwater search, adding that it would not be very simple.
Several agencies, including National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (NCOIS), are coordinating in the search operations and if needed, a NIOT vessel 'Sagar Nidhi' — which is on its way from Mauritius — will be used for the search, he said.
Replying to a question, Bargotra said they had enough resources to undertake the operations, adding the search area had been expanded from the initial 14,400 square nautical miles.
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