Debris of IAF’s An-32 aircraft that went missing over Bay of Bengal in 2016 found

The debris of the Indian Air Force’s An-32 aircraft that went missing over the Bay of Bengal in 2016 was recently discovered 310 kilometres off the Chennai coast.

The aircraft had 29 personnel on board. According to a press release by the government on Friday, images captured debris of a crashed aircraft on the sea bed approximately 310 km from the Chennai coast.

“The search images were scrutinised and found to be conforming with an An-32 aircraft. This discovery at the probable crash site, with no other recorded history of any other missing aircraft report in the same area, points to the debris as possibly belonging to the crashed IAF An-32 (K-2743),” the statement further read.

On the morning of July 22, 2016, an IAF Antonov An-32, took off from the Tambaram Air Force Station in Chennai. There were 29 people, including crew, onboard the transport aircraft, which was on a weekly trip to Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The plane took off from Chennai at around 8 am and was supposed to land at INS Utkrosh, an Indian naval air station, in Port Blair.

Shortly after take off, the aircraft lost all contact and disappeared off the radar while it was over the Bay of Bengal.

The disappearance had prompted the armed forces to launch what later became India’s largest search and rescue mission for a plane missing over sea.

On September 15, 2016, the Indian Air Force finally threw in the towel. Writing to the family members of the 29 people onboard the An-32 K2743, the air force said it had failed to locate the missing aircraft and was left with no option but to declare those onboard “presumed dead”.