ICG Dornier: Reliance Vessel MV Olympic Canyon to join search operations

CHENNAI: With search operations failing to trace the ill-fated Coast Guard flight that went missing on June 8, the Coast Guard today said it will take help from Reliance Industries' remotely operated vessel in tracking the missing plane.

The Reliance Industries' MV Olympic Canyon, which has the capability of using high resolution cameras with ROV (Remotely Operating Vehicle) would arrive at the site at about 0600 hours on June 19 and commence search, Coast Guard Inspector General, Satya Prakash Sharma said here.

"This vessel also has the capacity of picking up any parts of the aircraft or lifting the aircraft from the sea...." he said.

NIOT's research vessel 'Sagarnidhi', which was involved in the search operations, did not give "positive indication of confirming the position" of the aircraft based on signals and would be leaving the search area, he said.

"Sagarnidhi, which used high beam echo-sounder and sea bottom profiler, has not given us very many positive indication of confirming the position. Though they have received small echos in the same area where those beacon signals were picked up, there has not been confirmatory of these positions because the echo signal is very, very weak," he said.

National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) scientists were not "very certain" of confirming the exact location of the aircraft at a depth of 700 metres, he said.

The probable area of location of the signal, he said, would be 95 nautical miles south east of Chennai and 16 miles off Chidambaram coast.

"Sagarnidhi will be 'vacating' the search area today and a naval submarine which was carrying out the search in other area would join the search operations in the 'most probable area' which has been narrowed down," he said.

The Naval submarine had earlier picked up intermittent signals from the aircraft's sonar locating beacon around the same position which was first established, he said.

About the delay in tracing the aircraft, he said, "it is purely because, we are not getting any confirmatory signals. It is because of the steep depth we have in this area. If it was a flat bottom, I am confident we would picked up the signal from the first day (of search operation) itself."

"The effort is to confirm. That confirmatory tests will be done with the ROV (coming from Kakinada)...and we will be able to pick it up and localise the position, and that is the confidence I have right now," he said.

The plane with three crew members went missing on June 8 along Tamil Nadu's coastline during a routine maritime surveillance sortie.

Sharma said Indian Air Force also undertook search operations in the coastal areas of upto 60 miles over land and "no signs" have indicated of presence of aircraft "including the mangrove area around Chidambaram."

"Eight ships of Coast Guard and six ships of Navy continue to search and maintain surveillance in that area", he said.

On whether Coast Guard would seek the support of other countries, Sharma said, "Presently, we have not sought any assistance because whatever is needed for search of this aircraft, all possible technology and vessels are available for detection as well as recovery of the aircraft."

On responses made by families of the missing crew seeking Prime Minister Office intervention over search operations, Sharma said he had briefed them in detail about the efforts taken in tracing the aircraft.

"I just briefed them about the entire search operation that we have carried out and they are very, very satisfied," he said.