Chennai: A sonar-equipped Naval survey ship has picked up signals from the ill-fated Coast Guard Dornier aircraft that went missing with three crew members on board on June 8 along the Tamil Nadu coast.
“INS Sandhayak has picked up signals from the missing aircraft. The signals were picked up from the aircraft which has Sonar Locating Beacon and it can transmit signals upto 30 days,” Inspector General S P Sharma, Commander, Coast Guard (East), Chennai, told PTI.
‘Sandhayak' began operations in the Karaikkal-Cuddalore coastline on the intervening night of June 11-12. The ship's sonar sent signals deep into the ocean and has picked up signals from the aircraft.
“Further tests are being done to get a more precise location of the missing aircraft,” Sharma said, but did not elaborate.
The Dornier aircraft went missing on June 8 after a routine maritime surveillance sortie along the Tamil Nadu coast. It lost contact with air traffic control after 9.23 PM on that day, following which a massive search operation was launched with the involvement of multiple state and central agencies.
