Search ops for missing Sukhoi affected by bad weather

The search for the Indian Air Force's missing Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet was hit by rough weather today.

IAF sources said the operation was continuing despite bad weather conditions in parts of Assam and neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh where the plane is suspected to have crashed.

The Sukhoi jet, with two pilots on board, went missing after taking off from the Tezpur Salonibari air force station at 10:30 AM. The aircraft was on a routine training sortie.

A massive search operation, involving recce by helicopters, was launched to trace the plane and the pilots, aged between 25 and 30, defence spokesman Lt Col Sombit Ghosh of the Army's 4 Corps told PTI.

Sonitpur district Deputy Commissioner Manoj Kumar Deka told reporters that the airforce station had informed him that the last contact with the plane was made at around 11.10 am when it it was flying over Dubia in Gohpur sub-division of Biswanath district, adjacent to Sonitpur.

The country's frontline SU-30 MKI aircraft was inducted in the Tezpur air base on June 15, 2009.

At present, two squadrons comprising around 36 aircraft are deployed at Tezpur for guarding the Sino-India border in Arunachal Pradesh.