Site Bay of Bengal, India Crew 6 Survivors 0 Destination Port Blair Total fatalities All (presumed) Location Bay of Bengal | Passengers 23 Missing 29 (all) Date 22 July 2016 Operator Indian Air Force Survivor 0 | |
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Summary Missing for 1 Year
Search and Rescue Mission Called Off
Crashed Similar West Air Sweden Flight 294, Singapore Airlines Flight 368, Tara Air Flight 193, Daallo Airlines Flight 159, Korean Air Flight 2708 | ||
On 22 July 2016, an Antonov An-32 twin engine turboprop transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force disappeared while flying over the Bay of Bengal. The aircraft was en route from Tambaram Air Force Station in the city of Chennai on the western coastline of the Bay of Bengal to Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. There were 29 people on board. Radar contact with the aircraft was lost at 9:12 am, 280 kilometres (170 mi) east of Chennai. The search and rescue operation became India's biggest search operation for a missing plane on the sea in history.
Contents
Passengers
There were twenty-nine people on board the aircraft: six crew members; eleven Indian Air Force personnel; two Indian Army soldiers; one each from the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard; and eight defence civilians working with Naval Armament Depot (NAD). The eight civilian passengers were from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
Disappearance and search
The Antonov An-32 took off from Tambaram Air Force Station, Chennai at 08:30 local time on 22 July 2016. It was expected to land in Port Blair around 11:45 local time. The Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard launched a large search and rescue operation, using a submarine, twelve surface vessels and five aircraft.
On the third day after the disappearance, sixteen ships, a submarine and six aircraft were deployed to search for the missing An-32 in the Bay of Bengal, about 150 nautical miles east of Chennai. On 1 August, it was confirmed that the aircraft had no underwater locator beacon (ULB). It did have two Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs).
On 15 September 2016, the search and rescue mission was called off; all 29 persons on board were presumed dead and their families were notified.
