Underwater vehicle recovers IAF flight debris went missing 7 yrs ago

Chennai: The National Institute of Ocean Technology in Chennai recovered a large debris of an Indian Air Force plane that went missing seven years ago. The institution recently acquired an automatic underwater vehicle (AUV) from Norway, and it was doing its routine test when the debris was found, The Indian Express reported.

The missing craft, an AN-32 transport plane with 29 people on board, went missing on July 22, 2016, while flying from Chennai to Port Blair. The wreckage was found 300km off the coast of Chennai.

The AUV, which could go as deep as 6,000 metres, first detected the chakra, a three-coloured emblem. NIOT people first thought that it was the remnants of a shipwreck, but the vehicle found more metal pieces nearby. NIOT sent photos to the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force, and the latter identified it as their plane, TIE was told by M Ravichandran, Secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences under which NIOT functions.

The Defence Ministry said that after the plane went missing, there was a large-scale search and rescue operation launched involving aircraft and ships, but it couldn’t locate the craft’s debris. NIOT was asked for assistance then also, but they didn’t have that kind of equipment; it has now.

Ravichandran said that the finding, which happened last week, was purely accidental. The AUV went 3,400 metres below the sea surface and noticed the wreckage. The vehicle takes videos and photos, which lead to the discovery of the flight debris, he added.

The Defence Ministry issued a statement confirming that it was the said aircraft’s part. “The search images were scrutinised and found to be conforming with an AN-32 aircraft. This discovery at the probable crash site, with no other recorded history of any other missing aircraft report in the same area, points to the debris as possibly belonging to the crashed IAF AN-32,” the ministry said.