Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, July 23:

Two persons from Odisha are among the 29 onboard the Indian Air Force (IAF) AN-32 transport aircraft that went missing over the Bay of Bengal yesterday morning soon after taking off from Tambaram base for Portblair.

charan maharana Pic Courtesy: facebook/Charan Maharana

The two from Odisha are Purna Chandra Senapati from Jajpur and Charan Maharana from Ganjam district. While Senapati hails from Rangranga village near Panikoili in Jajpur district, Maharana is a native of Sukunda on the outskirts of Berhampur city in Ganjam district.

The two were employees of the Naval Armament Depot (NAD) in Visakhapatnam and had left for Chennai on Wednesday. According to reports, they were among the eight members from NAD who were assigned to fix the routine defect rectification in weapon CRN-91 in INS Battimalv in Port Blair.

Charan Maharana’s family in Berhampur were informed by a friend of Charan that he was onboard the IAF aircraft. He had last spoken to his family members a day before leaving for Andaman Nicobar. After getting information, Charan’s brother Santosh has left for Visakhapatnam.

The families of the missing are a worried lot and the hope of their rescue is fading with each passing time.

“He had called me at around 7 pm on Thursday after reaching Chennai. He informed me that he will be leaving for Andaman Nicobar. He hasn’t called up since then,” Ujali Senapati, mother of Purna Chandra Senapati sobbed.

“He had last called me up from Chennai. One of my brother’s friends called me up saying that he has missed the flight. We are not able to locate him. We will let you know after getting some news about him,” Mohan Senapati, Purna Chandra Senapati’s brother said.

The family of Charan Maharana is also anxiously waiting for some good news coming their way. However, they are losing patience with time.

“He has not called up and we are not able to connect to him. At around 3 am, one of his friends from Visakhapatnam informed us about the missing plane,” Charan’s father said.

Notably, the aircraft belonging to the 33 Squadron took off from Tambaram Air Force Station in Chennai at 8:30 am and was expected to land at Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands at 11:20 am. The plane's last known contact with the ground control was at 8:46 am after which it vanished off the radar screens. According to reports, the ill-fated aircraft abruptly turned and plunged from 23,000 feet approximately 280-km out at sea from Chennai.

A massive search operation is underway to locate the plane which is feared to have crashed in the sea.