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New Delhi: The wreckage of a transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force has been found at a depth of about 3.4 kilometers in the Bay of Bengal after almost seven and a half years. There were 29 personnel on board this missing plane. The Defense Ministry said that recently, examination of photographs taken by the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle of the National Institute of Ocean Technology has revealed that the debris found in the sea 310 km off the Chennai coast is that of the AN-32 (AN-32 ) aircraft.
The ministry said in a statement, “The photographs were examined and were found to be of AN-32 aircraft. “This discovery at the probable crash site, with no reports of any other aircraft missing in the area, points to the debris possibly being from a crashed Indian Air Force An-32 aircraft.”
The Indian Air Force AN-32 aircraft with registration number K-2743 disappeared over the Bay of Bengal during a mission on 22 July 2016. There were 29 personnel on board the plane.
A huge operation was launched in search of this plane in which many planes and ships were deployed, but neither the wreckage of the missing plane was found nor the personnel on board the plane could be traced.
National Institute of Ocean Technology works under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. It had recently deployed an AUV with deep sea exploration capability at the last known location of the missing AN-32 aircraft.
Debris found from the use of many equipment
The Defense Ministry said, ‘The discovery was made at a depth of 3,400 meters using multiple instruments including multi-beam sonar (sound navigation and ranging), synthetic aperture sonar and high-resolution photography.’
The distance from Chennai coast is 310 km.
“Analysis of search images has indicated the presence of debris from a crashed aircraft on the seabed approximately 140 nautical miles (310 km) off the Chennai coast,” it said.
