Headlines
Human remains recovered from Dornier wreckage; search ends
Chennai, July 14
After the recovery of human
remains and personal belongings of the three-member crew along with the
wreckage from the seabed, search operations for the missing Indian Coast
Guard Dornier aircraft that plunged into the sea on June 8 have been
called off, an official said on Tuesday.
Even as the Coast Guard
announced an end to the search operations, named 'Op Talash', Defence
Minister Manohar Parrikar conveyed his condolences to the families of
the three deceased crew members.
"Human remains and wrist watches
of the crew have been recovered from the seabed. The human remains will
be sent for DNA analysis for identification purposes," Coast Guard
Inspector General (Eastern Region) Satya Prakash Sharma told reporters
here.
He said the search operations ended on Monday night as most aircraft parts have been recovered.
He
said the human remains would be sent to the Tamil Nadu Forensic Science
Department for DNA tests, and the flight data recorder or black box and
other recovered items to the board of inquiry to ascertain the cause of
the mishap.
Defence Ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar said the
remains were recovered from "three different locations at the crash
site" and identified by a doctor on board MV Olympic Canyon -- Reliance
Industries' ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) deep sea operations vessel
which was requisitioned for searching the Dornier wreckage.
"The recovered remains were handed over to the Board of Enquiry at Coast Guard Air Station in Chennai," Kar said in a tweet.
"Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar expresses his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families," Kar also tweeted.
According to Sharma, the aircraft seems to have exploded in mid-air and crashed into the sea.
The
human remains and a wrist watch of one of the crew members were found
near the wreckage during Monday night's search, the Coast Guard IG said.
The
Dornier aircraft with deputy commandant Vidyasagar (pilot), deputy
commandant Subash Suresh (co-pilot) and navigator/observer M.K. Soni
went missing on the night of June 8 while returning to its base at
Chennai airport after a surveillance sortie along the Tamil Nadu coast
and Palk Bay.
The search operations drew a blank for a long time,
after which the Coast Guard requested agencies in the US, Canada,
Australia and Japan to help find the probable location of the missing
aircraft.
According to Sharma, the foreign agencies validated the search area of the Coast Guard.
The aircraft was flying at around 9,000 feet when it dropped about 5,000 feet in a few seconds on June 8.
Sharma
earlier told IANS that it was not possible for the aircraft to come out
of the dive due to the speed at which it came down.
According to him, the black box data was expected to reveal the cause of the mishap.