Search Continuing To Trace The Crew Of Missing Dornier : CG

12 July, Chennai

Intensified search operations have been continuing uninterruptedly to trace the three crew members of the missing Dornier, whose black box was recovered by Remote Operated Vessel (ROV) Olympic Canyon two days back.

Coast Guard sources said three to four ships along with ‘Olympic Canyon’ were involved in search of the missing crew–Deputy Commandants Vidyasagar, Subash Suresh and M K Soni–whose family members were informed about the recovery of the black box.

A spokesperson of the Coast Guard said that the black box was yet to be brought to the city. ”It is still in the ROV Olympic Canyon, which is searching for the missing crew. We will send a ship to collect it (the black box).”, he said.

Stating that the black box has been lying in the water for more than 30 days, he said it needsto be cleaned thoroughly before decoding the data,which would reveal the reasons as to how the Dornierwent off the radar on the night of June eight. Once brought to the Coast Guard headquarters here, the black box would either be sent to Kanpuror to the Bengaluru-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for decoding and to retrieve the data from it.

Asked about the missing crew, the spokespersonsaid the search was continuing by ROV along withthree to four ships. Meanwhile, the family members of the missingcrew were tottering between fear and hope as their was still unknown.

Subash’s mother Padma said ”we are hopeful that he would have survived the mishap for he travelled in air for over 2000 hours and is a good swimmer too”. ”Until an official confirmation comes through, we wont let go of that belief, she said with anxiety writ large on her face and with the hope that her prayers would be answered.

Soon after the black box was recovered, CoastGuard IG S P Sharma said scientifically conducted search operations led to the the recovery of the Flight Data Recorded (FDR) of the missing Dornier in a short span of time.

He had said the search for the missing crew were continuing in the place where the black box was traced.

After more than one month of search operations the Coast Guard achieved a significant breakthrough on July 10, when the debris of the plane, including its black box, were traced and recovered from a depth of 950 metres, about 16 nautical miles off Pichavaram near Cuddalore coast, by the ROVOlympic Canyon