The co-ordinated search for the AN32 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force continues for the sixth day today in the extended area of the Bay of Bengal between Chennai and Port Blair. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said in Parliament the search teams have detected a few signals from the sea and added, the pings are to be verified if they are
from the elusive aircraft.
It has been planned to involve the research vessel Sagar Nidhi of the National Institute of Ocean Technology that has the equipment to reach the sea bed as deep as 3000 meters using sound waves and detect its echo to decipher the nature and contents of the sea bed. The vessel is on its way from Mauritius.