New Delhi: The long-standing mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Indian Air Force’s An-32 transport aircraft in 2016 appears to have been solved, as debris from the crashed plane was detected off the coast of Chennai. The aircraft, carrying 29 personnel during an operational mission, went missing over the Bay of Bengal.The National Institute of Ocean Technology utilized an Autonomous Utility Vehicle (AUV) for deep-sea exploration at the last known location of the An-32 in the Bay of Bengal. Operating at a depth of 3,400 meters, advanced technologies including multi-beam SONAR, synthetic aperture SONAR, and high-resolution photography were employed. The exploration identified wreckage from the crashed aircraft on the sea bed located 310 km off the Chennai coast.
Analysis of the photographs confirmed that the debris belonged to the An-32 aircraft, providing closure to the families of the personnel on board. However, the cause of the crash remains undisclosed.
On July 22, 2016, the An-32, with flight number K-2743, departed from the Tambaran air base in Chennai at 8:30 am and was scheduled to land at Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands around 11:45 am. Sixteen minutes after take-off, the pilot’s last communication indicated normal conditions. The aircraft then rapidly descended from 23,000 feet and disappeared off the radar at approximately 9:12 am, 280 km off the Chennai coast.
Following the incident, the Indian Air Force and Navy initiated a massive search operation, deploying the Navy’s Dornier aircraft and 11 ships. The search, conducted in challenging weather conditions, marked India’s largest operation to locate a missing aircraft. A preliminary investigation revealed the absence of essential equipment on the An-32, hindering efforts to locate it in the event of a crash at sea.
Significantly, the black box of the An-32 lacked an underwater locator beacon, further complicating the search for the wreckage. Unlike civilian aircraft, this beacon emits an electronic signal for at least a month following a crash, aiding in locating submerged wreckage.
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