An Indian Air Force AN-32 aircraft went missing on way to Port Blair on Friday. (File photo)
Chennai:
The son of one of the men on board the Indian Air Force plane that disappeared on Friday has a message he wants to send to his fellow Indians.
Ashutosh Singh is the son of Bhupath Singh, who was on the AN-32 plane that took off from Chennai for Port Blair on Friday morning with 29 people on board but disappeared soon after.
"I want to request all my fellow Indians through NDTV to pray for my father and all people on board. I feel my father is safe. I want all of you to pray they all come back unharmed," he told NDTV.
The department where his father worked in naval inspection informed the family that efforts have been increased to find the plane - more ships have been sent and the search area has been increased.
Bhupath Singh was in the Navy for 23 years and retired in 2010. He was with a merchant ship for four years and then started working as a naval inspector in June last year. He was going for a 10-day assignment to Port Blair and told his son he would be back in August.
Another man on that flight was Vimal who was with the Army for 13 years. His uncle, Somanath, told NDTV that Vimal was recently posted to Car Nicobar.
He left home last Monday after coming back for a few days on official work. "Vimal phoned his wife at around 8 am yesterday morning to say he was about to board and would call after landing," Mr Somanath said.
"Around 2 pm she got a call from a friend saying the aircraft was missing. I contacted an officer to check authenticity and it was confirmed," he said.
"This morning we got official information from the Car Nicobar office that he was on the missing plane. We were later informed that there was no further information about the plane. The rest of the info we have is from the media," he said.
On a day when Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced he was personally monitoring the efforts to trace the plane, the on-going nightmare for the families of those on board that continued.
Ashutosh Singh is the son of Bhupath Singh, who was on the AN-32 plane that took off from Chennai for Port Blair on Friday morning with 29 people on board but disappeared soon after.
"I want to request all my fellow Indians through NDTV to pray for my father and all people on board. I feel my father is safe. I want all of you to pray they all come back unharmed," he told NDTV.
The department where his father worked in naval inspection informed the family that efforts have been increased to find the plane - more ships have been sent and the search area has been increased.
Bhupath Singh was in the Navy for 23 years and retired in 2010. He was with a merchant ship for four years and then started working as a naval inspector in June last year. He was going for a 10-day assignment to Port Blair and told his son he would be back in August.
Another man on that flight was Vimal who was with the Army for 13 years. His uncle, Somanath, told NDTV that Vimal was recently posted to Car Nicobar.
He left home last Monday after coming back for a few days on official work. "Vimal phoned his wife at around 8 am yesterday morning to say he was about to board and would call after landing," Mr Somanath said.
"Around 2 pm she got a call from a friend saying the aircraft was missing. I contacted an officer to check authenticity and it was confirmed," he said.
"This morning we got official information from the Car Nicobar office that he was on the missing plane. We were later informed that there was no further information about the plane. The rest of the info we have is from the media," he said.
On a day when Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced he was personally monitoring the efforts to trace the plane, the on-going nightmare for the families of those on board that continued.
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