ICG Dornier: INS Sandhyak detects intermittent transmission believed to be from the aircraft

NEW DELHI: Indian Navy's INS Sandhyak, which has been undertaking sub-surface search to locate the missing Indian Coast Guard ( ICG) Dornier, on Saturday detected intermittent transmission of 37.5 Khz, likely to be from the Sonar Locator Beacon (SLB) of the aircraft.

According to a Ministry of Defence press release, "The transmission is around the position where the Air Traffic Control (ATC) radar had lost contact of the aircraft. Submarine INS Sindhudhvaj is likely to arrive in the area late in the evening for further augmentation of sub-surface search."

Efforts to search and locate the missing aircraft by the ICG and Indian Navy ships along with aircraft in area of probability have been on for the past 110 hours.

#ICGDornier: Multi-coloured oil seen in concentric circles indicating oozing of oil in area under focus (MoD) pic.twitter.com/INX9Xmebyg

— ET Defence (@ETDefence) June 13, 2015

'Sandhayak' began operations in the Karaikkal-Cuddalore coastline on the intervening night of June 11-12. The ship's sonar sent signals deep into the ocean and has picked up signals from the aircraft.

"A multi coloured sheen of oil in concentric circles was sighted which indicated oozing of oil. The sample of oil has been sent to the laboratory for analysis," the release said.

National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has diverted its research vessel 'Sagar Nidhi' and is likely to arrive in the area for augmenting underwater search by June 14.

Reliance India Limited has been approached to extend services of the Multi Support Vessel (MSV) with Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV) for underwater operations," the release added.

A total of 10 Coast Guard and Indian Navy ships with two aircraft are undertaking the search for the missing aircraft.

The Dornier aircraft went missing on June 8 after a routine maritime surveillance sortie along the Tamil Nadu coast. It lost contact with air traffic control after 9.23 PM on that day, following which a massive search operation was launched with the involvement of multiple state and central agencies.

(With inputs from PTI)