Naval ship picks up signal from missing Coast Guard Dornier

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 a Sonar Locating Beacon and it can transmit signals up to 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 that day, following which a massive search operation was launched with the involvement of multiple state and central agencies.