No trace of missing AN-32 as rescue operations continue
Itanagar/Newdelhi/Guwahati: Residents of an Arunachal Pradesh village on Thursday said they had seen thick black smoke billowing from a mountain on Monday, the day an Indian Air Force aircraft carrying 13 people went missing, prompting authorities to verify the claim.
As efforts to locate the missing plane continued, Chief Minister Pema Khandu called up deputy commissioners of Siang, West Siang, Lower Siang and Shi-Yomi districts and directed them to intensify the search operation.
The authorities of Siang and West Siang districts have formed three teams to carry out searches in as many mountain ranges on the aircraft’s route, a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said here. Three people from Tumbin village said that on Monday afternoon they had seen thick black smoke originating from a mountain towards Molo village in Siang district.
“This is being verified,” Director General of Police S B K Sing informed the CMO. The Russian-origin aircraft lost contact on Monday afternoon after taking off from Jorhat in Assam for Mechuka advanced landing ground near the border with China.
Wife on field as
aircraft left Jorhat
Sandhya Tanwar was on duty at the IAF’s Air Traffic Control in Jorhat, watching as her husband Ashish Tanwar piloted an AN-32 aircraft that took off from the airbase for the thickly forested area of Menchuka in Arunachal Pradesh that fateful Monday afternoon.
Barely half an hour later, the plane went off the radar, leaving the young Tanwar to be one of the first to know about the disappearance of the IAF transport aircraft that had 12 others on board.
Sandhya, an air traffic control officer posted at the Johrat airbase, had married Flight Lieutenant Ashish Tanwar in 2018. And, never would have she thought that the couple who were united just a year ago would be separated under such unfortunate circumstances.
Four days on, a massive search and rescue operation to trace the aircraft continues, with these tense circumstances leaving family members in despair.
Sombre mood prevailed at Tanwar’s native Deeghot village in Palwal. IAF had Wednesday said that the search and rescue operation has been intensified and expanded despite challenges being posed by vegetation, inhospitable terrain and poor weather in the area.
Meanwhile, the pilot’s teary-eyed mother Saroj appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deploy all resources to trace the aircraft and those missing.
No trace of IAF plane
The multi agency operations to locate the missing AN-32 aircraft of IAF continued for the fourth day with no trace of the plane till Thursday evening, adds our special correspondent from Guwahati.
Official sources however said that the search by IAF and Indian Army helicopters was adversely affected by localised weather in the valleys.
More assets including smaller and more manoeuvrable helicopters like Cheetah have been included in the rescue mission so as to approach areas inaccessible by bigger helicopters or individuals on foot, the sources said. (inputs from PTI)
