No wreckage has been sighted so far: Indian Air Force on missing AN-32 aircraft
IAF AN-32
The Indian Air Force on Monday clarified that no wreckage of its missing AN-32 aircraft has been sighted.
The IAF has said that while some reports of possible location of the crash site were received, no wreckage has been sighted so far, news agency ANI reported.
It added that search operations will continue from the air and by ground parties of the Indian Army throughout the night.
IAF's AN-32 aircraft took off from Assam's Jorhat airbase at 12:25 pm today and went missing after 1 pm.
The aircraft, which had 13 crew members aboard, was headed to Arunachal Pradesh's Mechuka airfield near the China border.
It was supposed to cover 205 kilometres between Assam's Jorhat and Mechuka in Arunachal Pradesh.
The IAF has launched Sukhoi-30 combat aircraft and C-130 Special Ops aircraft on a search mission for locating the IAF AN-32 aircraft. The Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police have also been deployed in the search operation.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to IAF vice chief, Air Marshal Rakesh Singh Bhadauria regarding the matter today. Singh took to Twitter and posted that Bhadauria has informed him about the search operation.
"He has apprised me of the steps taken by the IAF to find the missing aircraft. I pray for the safety of all passengers on board," his tweet read.
Watch:Indian Air Force’s AN-32 aircraft with 13 onboard goes missing
A similar incident occurred in July 2016 when an AN-32 aircraft went missing over the Bay of Bengal. The aircraft had over 25 people aboard. India launched its largest search operation involving 16 ships and a submarine to locate the plane. All passengers were presumed dead.