Search intensifies for missing trainer aircraft in Jamshedpur

A training aircraft that went missing shortly after take-off from Sonari aerodrome in Jamshedpur on Tuesday, 21 August 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, 22 August.

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, 23 August.

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.