Debris Of Missing Coast Guard Aircraft Found In Tamil Nadu Coast, Data Recorder Recovered

10 July, Chennai

The debris of Indian Coast Guard Dornier aircraft missing since June 8, has been found near Pichavaram sea in Tamil Nadu.

Ministry of defence spokesperson Sitanshu Kar tweeted that the wreckage was found by Reliance Vessel Olympic Canyon.

He said that Indian navy’s INS Sindhudwaj had received the signals 990 metres below the sea level near Pichavaram on July 6. This helped to pin point the location of the wreckage and recover the flight data recorder and one line replacement unit of the Dornier aircraft.

The massive search operation for the missing Coast Guard Dornier aircraft with three crew members has made a major headway today with the locating of flight data recorder.

There is no information about the crew members including pilots and a navigator missing alongwith the aircraft. INS Sindhudwaj submarine received the signals from the beacon of Dornier aircraft near Sirkazhi sea. This area was thoroughly searched by the Multifunctional support vessel of Reliance Olympic Canyon.

The Remotely operated vehicle of this ship found the wreckage. Unprecedented search operations were conducted by Navy, Coast Guard and Tamil Nadu’s Coastal security group using ships patrol boats, scuba divers and sonar machines.

The area has been cordoned off by Navy and Coast Guard and search operations are intensified to find the whole wreckage of the aircraft and the crew members.

The Dornier aircraft left Chennai on 8th of June with three crew members and was missing from that night after Trichy air traffic control lost contact at 9.23 PM. The aircraft was declared missing and search operations continue for more than a month