New Delhi: An AN-32 aircraft of the Indian Air Force with 29 people on board went missing on Friday, defence ministry sources said.
The plane took off from the Tambaram air base near Chennai a little after 8 am and was heading for Port Blair and was to have landed around 11.20 am. The aircraft was flying between Chennai and Port Blair. Those on board included six crew members.

Officials said last contact with the plane, which has mostly service personnel on board, was around 15 minutes after take-off. The plane has an emergency beacon locator, which usually gets activated if the aircraft crashes.

A massive search operation has been launched by the air force, Navy and Coast Guard to look for the missing plane in the Bay of Bengal.