Chennai: With no breakthrough in the search for missing AN-32 aircraft even 39 days after it went missing, the Niot is readying its Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV) to be placed under the sea.
The ROVs, which have been designed primarily for research purposes, would check for any possible debris in 15 spots that have been identified by the search teams around the area where the plane with 29 on board went missing on July 22.
Addressing the Regional Editors Conference organised by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) here on Thursday, Coast Guard’s Eastern Region IG Rajan Bargotra said two ships owned by the Geological Survey of India and the National Institute of Ocean Technology have identified 150 spots in the vicinity of the area where the plane was last located before it went missing in the Bay of Bengal.
“From the 150 spots, we have shortlisted 15 spots and the NIOT is readying its ROV to ROVs though primarily designed for research purposes, we have decided to use it to locate any possible debris under the sea. The ROVs can locate something below 3,300 metres below the sea,” he told reporters.
The ROVs will be deployed in the sea anytime between September 7 to September 10 and the NIOT is working towards this.
Mr Bargotra said though the number of ships and plane involved in the search operations have been reduced, the search for the missing aircraft of the IAF was still on full swing. Since the search on surface of the sea did not yield any results, the search is now being concentrated on the underwater search.
Since the “spots” identified by the search teams are located close to the vicinity of the last seen area of the aircraft, much efforts are being made to concentrate the search to this specific area.
“The vessels owned by Niot and GSI have identified these spots and we don’t know whether we will be able to locate the debris, but we are trying,” Mr Bargotra said.
Asked whether the help of Olympic Canyon, the underwater search locator that was crucial in finding the debris of the Dornier aircraft, would be sought, the Coast Guard said there was no such plan since the ship is currently not in India.
During the search operations for Dornier, the ship had been leased by Reliance Industries and was in India.
The IAF plane went missing on the morning of July 22 a few minutes after it took off from the IAF Air Base in Tambaram. The defence ministry had also sought the help of the US in identifying any debris of the plane.
