Shillong:
An Air Force plane has crashed over Arunachal Pradesh with 13 people on board. The plane had taken off at 2 pm on Tuesday, and was supposed to land in Jorhat in Assam. It went missing within 10 minutes.
It had eight Air Force crew members and six Armymen on board. Air Force had carried out a preliminary search but could not trace the aircraft. Ground patrol search parties have also been sent search will resume again on Wednesday.
PTI adds: The transport aircraft, AN 32, was on a routine air maintenance sortie and was carrying 13 personnel, including seven IAF personnel and six army jawans, an IAF spokesman said.
IAF helicopters were scouting the Mechuka-Jorhat route from where the aircraft crashed.
The plane had taken off from the Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) in West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh to Jorhat in Assam at around 2 pm after which it went crashed.
It was to reach Jorhat at around 3.30 pm but it did not respond to the air traffic control, the spokesman said, adding that the aircraft was properly maintained and had no defects.
The plane, belonging to Jorhat air base, had started its sortie from Mohanbari in Upper Assam's Dibrugarh district and had carried essential commodities to the army base near Mecheka.
The Indian Air Force conducted an air reconnaissance on Tuesday in the Arunachal hills but could not locate the plane, the spokesman said.
The spokesman did not rule out the possibility of a crash.
He refused to disclose the identity of the crew and other passengers but said the crew was led by a Wing Commander.
Sources in the Eastern Air Command said the crew comprised some senior officials, including squadron leaders.