Odia Flight Lieutenant Among 13 Onboard in ill-Fated AN-32 Aircraft

Bhubaneswar: Flight Lieutenant Sunit Mohanty from Ganjam district is among the 13 Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel onboard AN-32 transport aircraft that went missing since June 3.
The ill-fated aircraft went off radar around 1 pm on Monday, a little over half an hour after taking off from Jorhat in Assam for Arunachal’s Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground (ALG).
According to reports, the personnel onboard the aircraft are Lieutenant M Garg, Wing Commander Charles, Flight Lieutenant Sumit Mohanty, S/L Vinod, Flt Lt Tanwar, Flt Lt Thapa, Sergeant Anoop, Corporal Sharin, Warrant Officer KK Mishra, Leading Aircraft Man Pankaj, Leading Aircraft Man SK Singh, Non combatants Rajesh Kumar and Putali.
Meanwhile, a massive search operation to trace the AN-32 aircraft is underway with the Indian Navy undertook a search mission from Arakonnam this morning. Helicopters, transport aircraft, UAVs and other sensors were involved in the extensive search.
All electronic, radar, optical & infrared sensors including satellites were employed to scan the area for any probable clues. Indian Army, Police, State government, Paramilitary Forces and local population were providing crucial support in the search operation.