On 22 July 2016, an

Antonov An-32 The Antonov An-32 ( NATO reporting name: Cline) is a turboprop twin-engined military transport aircraft. Design and development The An-32 is essentially a re-engined An-26. It is designed to withstand adverse weather conditions better than the ...

twin engine

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. Fuel ...

transport aircraft of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

disappeared while flying over the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...

. The aircraft was en route from

Tambaram Air Force Station Tambaram Air Force Station is an Indian Air Force airfield in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Located in the neighborhood of Tambaram, this Air Force station is primarily involved in the training of pilots as Qualified Flying Instructors and Mecha ...

in the city of

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

on the western coastline of the Bay of Bengal to

Port Blair Port Blair () is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headquarters for the district of South An ...

in the

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...

. There were 29 people on board. Radar contact with the aircraft was lost at 9:12am, east of Chennai. The search and rescue operation became India's largest search operation for a missing plane on the sea in history. There were also similar incidents in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Passengers

There were 29 people on board the aircraft: six crew members; 11

personnel; two

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

soldiers; one each from the Indian Navy and

Indian Coast Guard The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency of India with jurisdiction over its territorial waters including its contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone. The Indian Coast Guard was formally esta ...

; and eight defence civilians working with Naval Armament Depot (NAD). The civilians were from

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura (S20), INS ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

Disappearance and search

The Antonov An-32 took off from

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 The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

and the Indian Coast Guard launched a large search and rescue operation, using a submarine, 12 surface vessels and five aircraft. On the third day after the disappearance, 16 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 An underwater locator beacon is a device that guides search and rescue teams to a submerged aircraft by emitting a repeated electronic pulse. Application An underwater locator beacon (ULB) or underwater acoustic beacon, is a device fitted to a ...

(ULB). It did have two emergency locator transmitters (ELTs). On 15 September 2016, the search and rescue mission was called off; all 29 people on board were presumed dead and their families were notified.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Indian Air Force An-32 disappearance, 2016 2016 disasters in India Missing aircraft History of the Indian Ocean Accidents and incidents involving the Antonov An-32 Aviation accidents and incidents in 2016 Aviation accidents and incidents in India Indian Air Force An-32

Passengers

Disappearance and search

See also

References

External links