TEZPUR, May 24:
The search for the Indian Air Force’s missing Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet was hit by rough weather today.
IAF sources said the operation was continuing despite bad weather conditions in parts of Assam and neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh where the plane is suspected to have crashed.
The Sukhoi jet, with two pilots on board, went missing after taking off from the Tezpur Salonibari air force station at 10:30 AM. The aircraft was on a routine training sortie.
A massive search operation, involving recce by helicopters, was launched to trace the plane and the pilots, aged between 25 and 30, defence spokesman Lt Col Sombit Ghosh of the Army’s 4 Corps said.
Sonitpur district Deputy Commissioner Manoj Kumar Deka told reporters that the airforce station had informed him that the last contact with the plane was made at around 11.10 am when it it was flying over Dubia in Gohpur sub-division of Biswanath district, adjacent to Sonitpur.
The country’s frontline aircraft SU-30 MKI was inducted in Tezpur air base on June 15, 2009 by former IAF Vice–Chief, Air Marshal P K Barbara, during his tenure here, IAF sources said.
At present, two squadrons comprising around 36 aircraft are deployed at Tezpur for guarding the China border in Arunachal Pradesh. (PTI)
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