Missing aircraft not yet found Jharkhand seeks Navy help for search operation

    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.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)