CHENNAI : A Coast Guard Dornier surveillance aircraft with three personnel on board went missing last night off the coast of Chennai.
A massive search and rescue operation has been launched by Coast Guard and Navy for aircraft CG-791, which was inducted just last year, after it went off radar at 9.23 PM yesterday.
It took off from Chennai at 5:30 PM on a routine sortie and was being flown by a “highly experienced crew”.
The aircraft was “deployed along the Tamil Nadu coast and Palk Bay from the Coast Guard Air Station Chennai last evening and it failed to return to the base,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.
In March, the Navy lost a Dornier surveillance aircraft when it crashed off Goa coast, killing two crew members.
The Coast Guard today said the last contact with its air craft was “about 2100 hours yesterday and the radar at Tiruchirappalli airport tracked the air craft till 2123 hours in position 95 nautical miles south of Chennai, off Karaikal Coast.”
Five Coast Guard ships, four Naval ships, along with Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy aircraft and a long range maritime surveillance aircraft P81 are undertaking search and rescue operation in the area, it said.
“On receipt of the information, massive search and rescue efforts have been launched by utilising all available surface and air craft of the Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy,” the statement said.
“The aircraft is the latest induction in the Coast Guard inventory and was being flown by highly experienced crew,” it said. (AGENCIES)
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