The mystery shrouding the disappearance of the Indian Air Force An-32 transport aircraft in 2016 seems to have found its resolution, as debris from the crashed plane has been located 310 kilometers off the Chennai coast. The aircraft, bearing the registration K-2743, vanished over the Bay of Bengal on July 22, 2016, with 29 personnel on board during a routine courier flight from Tambaram Air Force Station in Chennai to Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The breakthrough in this eight-year-long mystery comes courtesy of an extensive deep-sea exploration conducted by the National Institute of Ocean Technology, using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). This AUV, equipped with multi-beam SONAR, synthetic aperture SONAR, and high-resolution photography capabilities, scoured the depths of 3,400 meters at the last known location of the missing An-32.
The exhaustive search revealed photographs confirming the presence of debris on the sea bed, approximately 140 nautical miles from the Chennai coast. The National Institute of Ocean Technology, operating under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, believes that the discovered debris aligns with the characteristics of the ill-fated An-32 aircraft. This revelation brings a sense of closure to the families of the 29 personnel who were on board. Although the exact cause of the crash remains elusive.
The ill-fated flight took off from Tambaran air base in Chennai at 8:30 am on July 22, 2016, and was scheduled to land at Port Blair around 11:45 am. However, just sixteen minutes after take-off, the aircraft, flying at an altitude of 23,000 feet, made its last communication, stating, “Everything is normal.” Subsequently, it rapidly lost altitude and disappeared from radar screens at 9:12 am, 280 km off the Chennai coast.
The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) and Navy’s search and rescue (SRA) operation in 2016, which involved hundreds of ships and planes, was one of the most significant yet far-fetched. The missing aircraft was never found, and this was made worse by the lack of crucial equipment such as an undersea locator beacon found on An-32’s black box.
The discovery of the aircraft’s wreckage is a momentous occasion in the history of Indian military aviation. The extensive search, which has been going on for almost 10 years, is a testament to the hard work of the India Air Force and the Indian Navy in uncovering the truth behind this tragedy.