Wreckage of Missing An-32 Aircraft Located

An An-32 of the Indian Air Force went missing on 03 Jun 2019 after getting airborne from Air Force Station, Jorhat Assam. The wreckage of the aircraft was spotted today 16 Kms North of Lipo, North East of Tato at an approximate elevation of 12000 ft by the IAF Mi-17 Helicopter undertaking search in the expanded search zone.

Efforts are now continuing to establish the status of occupants and establish survivors. Further details will be communicated as the recovery actions progress.

Intense search operations have been going on in the area ever since the IAF jet went missing last week.

Family members of the missing personnel who were travelling onboard the jet have been stationed in Assam in anticipation of any news about the jet or its passengers.

According to IAF, parts of the aircraft were located 15-20 km north of the flight path of the An-32 aircraft in Arunachal Pradesh. IAF chopper teams were involved in this mission.

Bad weather had stalled aerial search operations for the missing jet for two days early this week while ground operations continued in the mountainous area.

The Russian-origin An-32 aircraft with 13 people on board lost contact on Monday afternoon after taking off from Jorhat in Assam for Mechuka advanced landing ground near the border with China.

The IAF on Saturday announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh to anyone providing information about the location of the An-32 transport aircraft.

Resources from various agencies including Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) were brought in to enhance the effectiveness of the search operations.

The assets deployed for the rescue operation included Sukhoi-30 aircraft in addition to a fleet of C-130J and An-32 planes and Mi-17 and ALH helicopters. Apart from that ground forces included troops from the Army, Indo Tibetan Border Police and state police. Isro's Cartosat and RISAT satellites were also used to take images of the area around Menchuka.

As per IAF officials, efforts are on establish a ground link and to establish the whereabouts of the missing crew members.

The An-32 is a twin-engine turboprop transport aircraft and the IAF currently operates a sizeable number of it. The IAF launched a massive operation to trace the missing aircraft but the search was badly hit by poor weather conditions.