Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa visits Jorhat to review search operation of the missing Indian Air Force An-32

A Correspondent

Tezpur: The search for the missing Indian Air Force An-32 continued on Sunday. On June 3, the aircraft had gone airborne from IAF’s Jorhat Airbase in Assam for Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground in the West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Indian Air Force launched a massive search operation to trace the whereabouts of the aircraft soon after it was established that it did not reach its destination within the stipulated time.

Resources from various agencies, including ISRO, were brought into the operation to enhance its effectiveness. The area of search is mountainous and heavily forested with thick undergrowth. The weather in the area has been inclement with low clouds and rain. Combined with the inhospitable terrain, the weather has posed serious challenges to aerial search operations.

Search efforts by ground teams of Indian Army, ITBP, State Police and members of local population continued in full force on Sunday. However, aerial search could not be undertaken due to poor weather conditions prevailing throughout the day. Indian Air Force has increased the deployment of its helicopters and transport aircraft and has expanded the search area significantly since the beginning of the operations. More and more area is being covered by airborne sensors and satellites and the imaging is being followed-up by close analysis of the data for its synergistic amalgamation in the search operations.

Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on Saturday visited Air Force Station Jorhat to review the ongoing search operations. He was given a detailed briefing about the operation and was apprised with the inputs received so far. He interacted with families of the officers and airmen who were on board the aircraft.

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