The wreckage of AN-32 aircraft has found in Arunachal Pradesh’s Payum village. The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Monday launched Sukhoi-30 combat aircraft and C-130 Special Operations aircraft on a search mission for locating the IAF AN-32 Aircraft that went missing at around 1 pm today. The military transport aircraft, which take off from Jorhat in Assam, lost radio contact with the ground station at 1 pm, reports said. With 13 persons on board, the jet took off from Jorhat in Assam.
The IAF said the ill-fated IAF AN-32 aircraft was overdue for more than two hours in Mechuka airfield of Arunachal Pradesh. The aircraft last contacted ground sources at 1 PM today after taking off from Jorhat airbase at 12:25 pm. The IAF has confirmed that a massive search operation has been launched to locate AN-32 which is missing since 1 pm today.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has tweeted about the incident and has said that he has spoken to Air Marshal Rakesh Singh Bhadauria regarding the missing IAF AN-32 Aircraft. He has also prayed for the safety of all passengers on board.
On May 09, AN-32 aircraft of the Indian Air Force had overrun runway 27 while departing from Mumbai Airport.
On July 22, 2016, an An-32 transport aircraft of the IAF, which was en route from Tambaram Air Force Station in the city of Chennai, had disappeared over the Bay of Bengal. There were 29 people on board. The IAF had formally informed the family members that those on board the AN-32 aircraft were dead and provided the Certificate of Presumption of Death.
The Russian made AN-32 aircraft is considered as a formidable workhorse of the Air Force. On May 24, the IAF had allowed a fleet of the AN-32 transport aircraft to fly on blended aviation fuel containing up to 10 per cent bio-jet fuel. The AN-32 plane is a twin-engined turboprop, medium tactical transport aircraft that can carry 39 troops and five crew. Reports say as many as 15 AN-32 aircraft of the IAF crashed between 1986 and 2014.
