IAF aircraft with 13 persons goes missing after taking off from Assam's Jorhat
Guwahati, June 3 (IBNS): An Indian Air Force transport aircraft has gone missing after taking off from Jorhat airbase in Assam, officials said.
According to reports, the AN-32 aircraft – an Antonov An-32 military transport aircraft – took off from Jorhat at around 12-25 pm with 13 people on board including eight crew members and five passengers.
The Indian Air Force aircraft was scheduled to land in Arunachal Pradesh’s Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground (ALG), located near the China border.
A top official of Indian Air Force said that, apart from Indian Air Force, army, ITBP personnel, C130, SU-30, helicopters are engaged to locate the aircraft.
The aircraft lost contact around 35 minutes after taking off.
“The aircraft last contacted ground agencies at 1 pm, thereafter there has been no contact. Since the aircraft did not reach the airfield, overdue action was initiated by the Indian Air Force. A total of eight crew members and five passengers were onboard the aircraft,” Shillong based IAF PRO Ratnakar Singh said.
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said he spoke to Air Marshal Rakesh Singh Bhadauria over the issue.
"Spoke to Vice Chief of @IAF_MCC, Air Marshal Rakesh Singh Bhadauria regarding the missing IAF AN-32 Aircraft which is overdue for some hours. He has apprised me of the steps taken by the IAF to find the missing aircraft. I pray for the safety of all passengers on board," the Minister tweeted.
(By Hemanta Kumar Nath, Guwahati)
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