New Delhi: Mi-17s and Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) of the Indian Army have been deployed for the search and rescue operation of 13 personnel on board the Indian Air Force's AN-32. This comes a day after the IAF managed to locate the wreckage of the plane 16 kilometres North of Lipo, North East of Tato at an altitude of 12,000 feet. The plane had been missing since June 3 after taking off from Jorhat air base in Assam to Menchuka advanced landing ground in Arunachal Pradesh with 13 persons on board. Parts of the aircraft were located 15-20 km north of the flight path of the aircraft in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Indian Air Force has been carrying out extensive search and rescue mission for the missing aircraft including use of Research and Analysis Wing's Global 5000 spy plane, NTRO satellites, Naval P-8I surveillance aircraft along with its own Mi-17 choppers, C-130J special operations planes and all possible assets from different agencies. The IAF had on Saturday announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh to anyone providing information about the location of the AN-32 transport aircraft.
