New Delhi/Chennai: A transport plane of the Indian Air Force with 29 people on board, including six crew members, went missing today while flying from Chennai to Port Blair.
The AN-32 aircraft took off at 8:30 am from Tambaram in Chennai and the last time it was contacted was 16 minutes later, defence sources said.
The aircraft can fly for up to four hours without refuelling.
Source said that a massive search operation had been launched by the IAF, the Navy and the coast guard.
“It was a courier flight with service personnel on board and the estimated arrival time at Port Blair was 1130 hrs. Search is on,” sources told PTI.
One P8I aircraft and one Dornier aircraft have been deployed for search and rescue operations over the Bay of Bengal and four ships have been diverted to join them.