IAF lodges complaint with Tamil Nadu police for missing AN-32 aircraft

Chennai: After 48 hours of frantic search involving assets drawn from Airforce, Navy and Coast Guard, airforce authorities have lodged a formal complaint with Tamil Nadu police over the missing AN-32 aircraft.

"We have received a complaint that Air Force's AN-32 transport aircraft has gone missing," a senior police official said on Sunday.

"The complaint was lodged last night with Selaiyur police," he said.

"The complaint says that 29 personnel on board AN-32 and the aircraft have gone missing. Among the missing personnel is one person from Tamil Nadu," the official said.

Such a complaint has been lodged for legal purposes. A similar plaint was filed when Coast Guard's Dornier aircraft went missing last year. The wreckage of the CG Dornier aircraft and bodies of its crew were later found off Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, the search operations for the AN-32 aircraft involving multiple agencies continued for the third consecutive day.

AN-32, IAF's Port Blair bound transport plane went missing after it took off from the Tambaram air base here by 8.30 AM on July 22.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar yesterday undertook an aerial survey to personally monitor the search and rescue operations.