24 hours on, rescuers still clueless about IAF's missing Sukhoi-30; bad weather halts search ops

Even after 24 hours, the search and rescue team has failed to locate IAF's Sukhoi-30 fighter jet which went missing, with two pilots on board, minutes after it took off from Assam's Tejpur airbase on Tuesday.

New Delhi: Even after 24 hours, the search and rescue team has failed to locate Indian Air Force's Sukhoi-30 fighter jet, which went missing, with two pilots on board, minutes after it took off from Assam's Tejpur airbase on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the rescue mission for locating the missing Sukhoi-30 fighter jet has been halted owing to bad weather conditions.

Rescue mission for the missing Sukhoi-30 fighter jet of the Indian Air Force, halted for now due to bad weather conditions. — ANI (@ANI_news) May 24, 2017

The jet had taken off from the IAF station on the outskirts of Tezpur town at 10.30 am on Tuesday, but it lost radar and radio contact around 60 km northeast of the air base.

“A massive search operation, involving helicopters, were launched to trace the plane and the pilots, aged between 25 and 30,” Defence spokesman Lt Col Sombit Ghosh of the Army’s IV Corps had told reporters.

Thereafter, authorities at Biswanath district, which borders Arunachal Pradesh, were informed.

The Indian Air Force has already lost at least seven of the 240 Sukhoi-30MKIs till now. 

This is the second time that a Sukhoi-30 of the Tezpur base has met with trouble. 

A Sukhoi-30 crashed close to Laokhowa wildlife sanctuary in Nagaon district on May 19, 2015.