The Dornier aircraft with deputy commandant Vidyasagar (pilot), deputy commandant Subash Suresh (co-pilot) and navigator/observer M.K. Soni which went missing on the night of June 8 while returning to its base at Chennai airport after a surveillance sortie along the Tamil Nadu coast and Palk Bay is found. According to the reports ,After a month the crew who went missing along with the Dornier aircraft is traced, the remains of the three missing crew onboard the flight were retrieved from the bottom of the sea late last night, the Indian Coast Guard announced on Tuesday.
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“Thirty-three days after the ICG aircraft went missing, its wreckage was found at the depth of 990 metres in position 17 NM S/E off Cuddolore, which included the flight data recorder, two engines, propellers, tail and tail cone, air frame parts, maevest, the single line replacement unit, parts of the fuselage, part of the landing gear and the cockpit voice recorder by the Reliance Vessel Olympic Canyon. The debris have been recovered from the sea bed by the vessel,” the statement said.
The search mission had recovered the wreckage of the aircraft off Cuddalore coast, which gave a fresh impetus to the search operations. On Monday night, the remotely-operation vehicle that has been carrying out underwater searches found the remains of the crew – the pilot, Deputy Commandant Vidyasagar; co-pilot Deputy Commandant Subash Suresh, and navigator Deputy Commandant MK Soni.
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With this, the desperate air, water and underwater search that went on for 35 days has finally come to a grim conclusion.The remains were brought to Coast Guard station at Meenambakkam, said Coast Guard commander Inspector General SP Sharma at a hurriedly convened press conference here today.
“The State forensics laboratory would conduct the DNA test to identify the remains before handing over the bodies,” Sharma said.“We are seeking the assistance of the foreign company that manufactured the Flight Data Recorder to recover information contained in it,” he added. The aircraft had weaponry if there was an attack, Sharma said in reply to a query.