Jamshedpur, Aug 21 (PTI) A training aircraft that went missing shortly after take-off from Sonari aerodrome in Jamshedpur on Tuesday was yet to be found, officials said.
The Seraikela-Kharswan district administration in Jharkhand sought help from the Indian Navy to locate the two-seater aircraft, Deputy Commissioner Ravi Shankar Shukla told PTI on Wednesday It is suspected that the plane, belonging to a private aviation company, with a pilot and a trainee pilot on board crashed into Chandil dam in the district.
Official sources said the administration sought help from Eastern Naval Command, headquartered at Vishakhapatnam from where a team is likely to start a search operation from Thursday.
Earlier in the day, a six-member team of NDRF from Ranchi carried out search operation for several hours in the Chandil dam.
Nothing was, however, found barring a pair of shoes, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (Chandil) Sunil Kumar Rajwar said.
Villagers had claimed that an aircraft crashed into the water body on Tuesday, Superintendent of Police (Seraikela-Kharswan) Mukesh Kumar Lunayat said.
East Singhbhum district Deputy Commissioner Ananya Mittal said the last location of the aircraft was near Nimdih under Chandil sub-division, by the Air Traffic Control of Sonari aerodrome.
A joint operation by the administration of both the district and Forest department was also launched in Nimdih and adjacent Purulia district of West Bengal.
The aircraft, a Cessna 152 owned by flying school Alchemist Aviation, took off from the Sonari aerodrome around 11 am on Tuesday. PTI BS RG NN
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