NDRF Joins Search For Missing Aircraft In Jharkhand's Seraikela-Kharswan District

A NDRF team joined the search operation in Jharkhand's Seraikela-Kharswan district on Wednesday to trace a two-seater aircraft that went missing after it took off from an aerodrome here, an official said.

A six-member NDRF joined the search operation in Chandil dam this morning, but nothing has been found as yet, Deputy Commissioner of Seraikela-Kharswan Ravi Shankar Shukla said.

Asked about the identity of the missing pilot and trainee pilot, the deputy commissioner said it would be available with the concerned aviation company.

When contacted, a senior official of the aviation company "Alchemist Aviation" named one missing person as Subrodeep.

A massive search operation is being conducted in Chandil dam in Seraikela-Kharswan district after locals claimed that they saw the debris of the aircraft in the reservoir, Superintendent of Police (Seraikela-Kharswan) Mukesh Kumar Lunayat told PTI.

Earlier, East Singhbhum district Deputy Commissioner Ananya Mittal told PTI that the last location of the aircraft, which belonged to Alchemist Aviation Company, was detected near Nimdih under the Chandil sub-division of Seraikela-Kharswan district by the Air Traffic Control at Sonari Aerodrome.

The administrations of the East Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharswan districts, police, and the Forest Department were searching for the aircraft, he said.

Besides the areas near Nimdih, searches were also being conducted in the adjoining Purulia district of West Bengal, he added.

The aircraft, reported to be a Cessna 152 owned by flying school Alchemist Aviation, took off from the Sonari aerodrome in Jamshedpur around 11 a.m. on Tuesday with a pilot and trainee on board, they said.