New Delhi: Days after the debris of the missing Dornier aircraft was recovered off the Tamil Nadu coast, “certain human remains” have also been found in the line of wreckage by Reliance vessel 'Olympic Canyon'.
“The DNA tests of the remains will be carried out at the Tamil Nadu Forensic laboratory,” SP Sharma, IG, Indian Coast Guard, was quoted as saying by ANI.
Sitanshu Kar, Principal Spokesperson, Ministry of Defence, took to Twitter to post a picture of the recovered watch.
#ICGDornier Wrist watch of one of the crew members of missing aircraft recovered by #RIL's Olympic Canyon ROV. pic.twitter.com/6zXzpqsRZm
— Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) July 14, 2015
#ICGDornier Coast Guard IG (East) SP Sharma showing pic of a recovered watch at a press meet in Chennai. pic.twitter.com/EUAQwZ7VcP
— Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) July 14, 2015
Kar added that human remains including bones and a wrist watch of one of the crew members were recovered from three different location of the crash site during Monday night's search.
#ICGDornier Human remains (bones) recovered from 3 different locations of the crashed site; identified by doctor on board Olympic Canyon.
— Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) July 14, 2015
The remains were identified by the the doctor on board 'Olympic Canyon'.
Meanwhile, search 'Operation Talash' was terminated on Monday night after “ getting maximum pieces of debris.”
#ICGDornier Operation for Missing a/c “Op Talash” was terminated last night after getting maximum pieces of debris. pic.twitter.com/VY0BZf411R
— Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) July 14, 2015
He added that the recovered remains were handed over to the Board of Enquiry at Coast Guard Air Station in Chennai.
#ICGDornier The recovered remains handed over to the Board of Enquiry at Coast Guard Air Station in Chennai.
— Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) July 14, 2015
Kar also said that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has expressed his heartfelt condolence to the families of the crew members.
#ICGDornier Defence Minister @manoharparrikar expresses his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.
— Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) July 14, 2015
While the aircraft debris was found on July 10, the human remains from the line of wreckage were recovered on July 12.
The vessel had recovered the flight data recorder, cockpit voice recorder, two engines, propellers, tail and tail cone, airframe parts, maevest, single line replacement unit, parts of the fuselage and part of the landing gear from the sea bed.
However, the fate of the three crew members is still now known.
The items were recovered from a depth of about 990 metres and 17 nautical miles south east of Cuddalore.
The ill-fated Indian Coast Guard's (ICG) Dornier plane CG-791, along with crew members Deputy Commandant Vidyasagar (pilot), Deputy Commandant Subash Suresh (co-pilot) and Navigator/Observer MK Soni, had gone missing shortly after taking off for a routine sortie on June 8.
