100 hours on, IAF intensifies search for missing AN-32

All the three armed forces have deployed their assets to trace the aircraft. However, the search and rescue (SAR) operation has met with little success so far.

According to an official statement, four Mi-17, three Advanced Light Helicopters (two of Army and one from IAF), two SU-30 MKI, one C130 and one Army UAV, satellites and all possible civil, police and local administrative agencies have further expanded search based on human and sensor inputs.

Moreover, two Cheetah helicopters were reaching and will add to the Search and rescue operation on Friday.

The Indian Navy's Long Range Maritime reconnaissance aircraft P-8I will again fly a sortie on Friday morning as the weather is likely to improve slightly.

IAF officials said ISRO's Cartosat and RISAT satellites are taking images of the area around Mechuka to help the rescuers find the plane.

The search and rescue operation carried out by helicopters has been called off due to low light, but the C-130J Super Hercules aircraft will continue with the mission during night, the Air Force said on Thursday.

"SAR operation by helicopters is called off due to low light. It will resume on Friday. C130Js will continue the mission in night. Nothing has been sighted so far," an IAF official said.

Search parties have set out on foot in likely directions to locate the aircraft and its occupants.

These parties have been encountering thick forests as they tirelessly search every part of a very difficult terrain.

The search by parties on foot will continue through the night and satellites data is being analysed regularly.

IAF has flown more than 100 hours in search operations, the statement added.

Sandhya Tanwar was on duty at the IAF's Air Traffic Control in Jorhat, watching as her husband Ashish Tanwar piloted an AN-32 aircraft that took off from the airbase Sandhya, an air traffic control officer posted at the Johrat airbase, married Flight Lieutenant Ashish Tanwar in 2018. And, never would have she thought that the couple who were united just a year ago would be separated under such unfortunate circumstances.

Four days on, a massive search and rescue operation to trace the Russian-origin aircraft continues, with these tense circumstances leaving family members in despair.

"She was on duty even when the aircraft went off the radar," a source said, adding, she passed out of the Air Force Academy (AFA).

Ashish Tanwar, who hails from Haryana's Palwal, had joined the IAF in December 2013 after completing his B.Tech degree.

Sombre mood prevailed at Tanwar's native Deeghot village in Palwal.

Meanwhile, the pilot's teary-eyed mother Saroj appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deploy all resources to trace the aircraft and those missing.

The aircraft went missing in Arunachal Pradesh on Monday after taking off from Assam. The Russian-made aircraft took off from Jorhat on Monday at 12.27 pm for the Mechuka advance landing ground bordering China. Its last contact with the ground control was at 1 pm.

A total of eight aircrew and five passengers were on board the aircraft.

According to sources, the rescuers have not received any signal from the emergency locator beacon in the missing plane, adding there is a possibility that the device may not have been functional.