Chennai: A Navy ship undertaking sub-surface search in the area of probability for the missing Dornier aircraft of the Coast Guard on Saturday detected an intermittent transmission of sound.
Inspector General SP Sharma, Commander, Coast Guard (East), Chennai said, “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 up to 30 days.”
‘Sandhayak’ began operations in the Karaikkal-Cuddalore coastline on the intervening night of June 11-12. The sonar of the ship had sent signals deep into the ocean and has picked up signals from the aircraft.
An official release from the Coast Guard said the sound was from 37.5KHZ, likely to be from the sonar locator beacon of the missing aircraft. The transmission is around the position where the air traffic control radar has lost contact with the aircraft, the release said.
It further said that the sample of oil has been sent to the laboratory for analysis.
A multi-coloured sheen of oil in concentric circles was sighted which indicated oozing of oil in the area.
National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has diverted its research vessel ‘Sagar Nidhi’ to the spot and it is likely to arrive in the area for augmenting underwater search on Sunday, the release said.
Defence ministry has also confirmed that INS Sandhayak has detected intermittent signals, likely to be from the SLB of the missing Dornier aircraft.
The Dornier aircraft, which had three crew members on board, was on a routine sortie when it lost contact with air traffic control (ATC) at around 10 pm on Monday.
Bureau Report
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