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Dornier CG 791 aircraft went missing along with three officers on board, while it was returning after a regular surveillance sortie last Monday evening. The aircraft was 16 nautical miles off Chidambaram coast at 9.23 PM, while it lost contact. Raising hopes of getting a clue for locating the missing Coast Guard Dornier, Indian Navy's INS Sandhyak, which has been undertaking sub-surface search has received intermittent transmission, while searching near the last known location of the aircraft, of 37.5 kHz, likely to be from the Sonar Locator Beacon (SLB) of the aircraft.

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

By Premji