Naval survey ship INS Sandhayak picks up beacon signals from missing Dornier aircraft

A Naval survey ship INS Sandhayak on Saturday picked up beacon signals from the coast guard Dornier aircraft, which has been missing since Monday night.

A multi coloured sheen of oil in concentric circles was sighted which indicated oozing of oil, the sample of which was sent to laboratory for analysis.

According to the Ministry of Defence, "INS Sandhyak undertaking sub-surface search, detected intermittent transmission of 37.5 Khz, likely to be from the Sonar Locator Beacon (SLB) of the missing aircraft. The transmission is around the position where the Air Traffic Control (ATC) radar had lost contact of the aircraft. Submarine INS Sindhudhvaj is likely to arrive in the area late in the evening for further augmentation of sub-surface search."

Meanwhile, in a statement here, the Coast Guard said, "INS Sandhyak undertaking sub-surface search, detected intermittent transmission of 37.5 Khz, likely to be from the Sonar Locator Beacon (SLB) of the missing aircraft."

The transmission is around the position (coastal Tamil Nadu somewhere around Karaikkal-Cuddalore) where the Air Traffic Control (ATC) radar had lost contact of the aircraft.

"Efforts to search and locate the missing ICG Aircraft by the ICG and IN ships in area of probability continues for the past 110 hrs," the statement said.

The aircraft had taken off from Chennai airport at 5.30 pm on Monday for a routine sortie, following which it lost contact with the base after 9 pm.

Coast Guard assisted by Navy has undertaken a massive operation for the search of the Dornier aircraft which went missing with three people on board.

The crew of missing Dornier are Deputy Commandment Vidyasagar (pilot), Commandment MK Soni (co-pilot) and Deputy Commandment Subhash Suresh (navigator).

The aircraft CG-791 was inducted in 2014 and was last tracked at 10 PM on Monday at Trichy airport radar. It disappeared north-east off Karaikal coast.

The aircraft was "deployed along the Tamil Nadu coast and Palk Bay from the Coast Guard Air Station Chennai on Monday evening and it failed to return to the base," the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Defence Ministry spokesperson Sitanshu kar had said, "The missing Dornier aircraft was the latest induction in Indian Coast Guard, in 2014, and was being flown by highly experienced crew."

(With PTI Inputs)