Bad weather hits search for Sukhoi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 24

Overcast conditions in the northern part of Assam today prevented an extensive low-flying visual search for a Sukhoi 30MKI fighter jet that was reported missing at 11 am on Tuesday. The jet with two pilots had taken off from Tezpur in Assam.

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The aircraft, on a routine training mission, got airborne around 10.30 am and lost radar and radio contact 60 km north-west of Tezpur, close to Arunachal Pradesh.

The IAF has launched a search and rescue operation using the C-130 aircraft with electro-optical sensors to capture images. A Sukhoi with reconnaissance capability has also been pressed into service. Search by IAF and Army helicopters was hampered by bad weather today.

Four ground search teams of IAF personnel, nine of the Army and two of the state administration have also been deployed in different areas.

The twin-engine Sukhoi is of Russian origin and is considered a stable aircraft. Since their induction in the late 1990s, seven crashes have occurred. An inquiry  primarily indicated technical failure as the cause.

Meanwhile, China today said it had no information on the missing jet.