The Indian Air Force aircraft AN32 has gone missing with 29 people on board. The plane reportedly had 4 hours worth of fuel left in its tank.
The Russian-made flight was on its way to Port Blair, from Chennai when it went off the grid.
A Navy spokesman said that the surveillance planes and ships have started searching for the aircraft. It was flying with service personnel on board to the Indian military base in Malacca Straits.
The Navy has deployed one P-8I and one Dornier aircraft to search in the search party. Four Indian Navy ships including Gharial, Karmukh, Jyoti and Kuthar have also been deployed.
Authorities say that they lost contact with the aircraft at 7.46 am and it was last seen back on the radar at 8:12 am. The aircraft was meant to arrive at Port Blair at 11:30 am.
A spokesperson of Ministry of Defence through his Twitter handle revealed that a full-scale search and rescue team has been launched.
The aircraft has a special ability to take off from and land on small airstrips. The IAF has around AN-32s.
Full scale Search & Rescue launched to look for IAF AN 32 overdue at Port Blair since 1130 hrs. Max assets being deployed at earliest.
— DPR (@SpokespersonMoD) July 22, 2016