NEW DELHI, June 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Search operations for an Indian Air Force (IAF) AN-32 with 13 people on board that went missing on Monday entered the second today.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has also deployed its RISAT series of radar imaging satellites to hunt for the missing aircraft that lost contact with the ground half-hour after takeoff from the city of Jorhat in the northeastern state of Assam, local media reported.
The An-32 military transport plane which took off at 12.25 Monday, was headed to the neighbouring state of Arunachal Pradesh and was supposed to land at a military airfield near the village of Mechuk an hour later. At 13.00 the crew of the aircraft lost contact with the ground.
Indian media reported that the army has launched a large-scale operation to search for the missing aircraft. The military believe that the plane has crashed, and have already received information about a place where it may have fell.
The search efforts are however said to have been significantly hampered by weather conditions in the region.
There were six military, five crew members and two civilians on the missing plane.
According to Indian media, the crash of aircraft in the area is not uncommon due to difficult weather conditions and numerous mountains.
–NNN-AGENCIES
