Chennai: A massive search and rescue operation has been mounted for the Indian Air Force plane that went missing with 29 people on board over Bay of Bengal on Friday morning.
Five surveillance aircraft and 13 Navy and Coast Guard ships are looking for the plane which vanished shortly after take-off at 08:30 am on Friday from Chennai.
The aircraft was on its way to Port Blair, scheduled to land at 11:30 am.
The Russian-built Antonov AN-32 military transport plane was carrying service personnel and six crew members as it undertook a routine courier service to the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
An IAF source told AFP the radar data from the missing aircraft showed it making a sharp left turn before rapidly losing altitude – from 23,000 feet.
"Full scale search and rescue launched to look for IAF AN 32 overdue at Port Blair since 1130 hrs. Max assets being deployed at earliest," the defence ministry tweeted.
The last contact with the plane was made around 15 minutes after take-off from Tambaram Air Force Station on the outskirts of Chennai, an IAF spokesman said.
"A search operation is on. The plane was airborne at 8:30 am and was supposed to land at Port Blair at 11:30," Wing Commander Anupam Banerjee said.
The AN-32, equipped with navigational aids, are the IAF's workhorse aircraft and capable of flying for up to four hours without refuelling.
"We are keeping our fingers crossed. Let's hope and pray for the best," he said, requesting anonymity.
Retired Air Marshal Anil Chopra said searching for an aircraft in an ocean was complex and that knowledge of the last known position of the plane would be critical for any breakthrough.
"Unfortunately the radar cover in Indian east coast does not cover the full area... As time elapses, uncertainty and risk increases," he posted on Twitter.
"Searching an aircraft in an ocean is as complex as finding a ping pong ball on Siachen glacier," he tweeted.
The Indian Air Force, which relies heavily on Russian-made equipment and has around 100 AN-32s in its fleet, has been blighted by a poor safety record.
In one of the worst disasters involving an AN-32 in India, 20 people on board died while three civilians were burnt to death when the plane crashed near a New Delhi airport in 1999.
And in 2013, all 20 people on board a military helicopter were killed when it crashed in northern India.
The Indian Air Force has gradually been getting rid of some of its older planes.
New deals have been held up, most notably the agreement to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France's Dassault Aviation, which has been pending since 2012.
