An Air Force AN-32 plane with 25 persons on board goes missing.
The aircraft was flying from Chennai to Port Blair. Those on board included six crew members.
Officials said it was “a courier flight” with service personnel on board.
A major search and rescue operation has been launched by the Indian Navy in the Bay of Bengal.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said ” all efforts are being made to trace the missing AN 32 transport plane of IAF and the service personnel onboard.”
ALSO READ: IAF AN-32 Goes Missing: 10 Things You Need To Know About The Aircraft
Navy officials said that one P-8I surveillance aircraft, one Dornier and four ships have been deployed in the search and rescue operation and more assets are being dispatched.
The AN-32 aircraft took off at 8.30am from Tambaram in Chennai and last contact with it was made 16 minutes later.
The aircraft can fly for up to four hours without refuelling. The Coast Guard and IAF have launched operations to find the aircraft but there was no official statement about its disappearance yet.
UPDATE: Full scale search & rescue operation launched in in Bay of Bengal for IAF aircraft AN-32. — ANI (@ANI_news) July 22, 2016
UPDATE: One P8 I & one Dornier aircraft launched. 4 Indian Navy ships diverted to join in Search & Rescue operations.
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 22, 2016
UPDATE: 4 coast guard ships & 2 dornier aircraft deployed for search operations 200 knot mile from east of Chennai — ANI (@ANI_news) July 22, 2016
A demonstration of Search & Rescue ops launched by Indian Navy for Indian Air Force AN-32 plane which went missing pic.twitter.com/ICCvve6wBY
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 22, 2016
For all the latest news and updates from India and across the globe, follow us on @NewsWorldIN on Twitter and News World India on Facebook