Showing posts with label Navy surveillance aircraft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Navy surveillance aircraft. Show all posts

Wednesday, 25 March 2015

Navy surveillance aircraft crashes in Goa; two officers missing

The Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft, which was on a routine training sortie, crashed about 25 nautical miles south-west off Goa at around 10:8 PM hours on Tuesday.

A full-scale search and rescue operation involving nine ships and few aircraft was launched following the crash.

"One survivor has been rescued. Search is on to locate two more officers -- a pilot and an observer," Navy spokesperson Captain D K Sharma said in New Delhi.

The rescued officer, Commander Nikhil Joshi, has been seriously injured in the crash but is stable, Sharma said.

Navy chief Admiral R K Dhowan has rushed to Goa to take stock of the situation.

It is the latest in a series of disasters to hit the navy, and comes just months after a torpedo recovery vessel sank off Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, leaving five dead.

Eighteen sailors were also killed in August 2013 when INS Sindhurakshak burst into flames in Mumbai harbour.