Naval aircraft crashes off Goa coast, two missing

Having deployed 10 of its ships and four aircraft, the Navy was engaged — all through Wednesday — in a massive operation to locate two of its three officers, who went missing after a routine night training sortie plunged into sea about 20 nautical miles south-west of Goa on Tuesday night. The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) also rushed two its ships in the later part of the day to assist the Navy in its search operation. However, till late on Wednesday evening, the rescuing teams had not traced the two missing naval officers. The two missing officers comprised a pilot and a woman observer.

“A Dornier aircraft of the Indian Navy on a routine night training sortie ditched at sea about 20 nautical miles south-west of Goa on the night of March 24. The Naval Air Station at Goa lost radar contact with the aircraft at 10.08 pm. The aircraft is feared to have ditched soon thereafter,” a Navy spokesperson said.

Of the three officers who were on board when the mishap took place at around 10 pm on Tuesday, Commander Nikhil Kuldip Joshi was rescued an hour later by the crew of  a passing fishing boat “Niharika” near a hamlet off Karwar. A naval fast interceptor craft air-lifted Joshi to the Navy Hospital ‘Patanjali’ at Karwar, where his condition is reported to be stable.

The Navy swiftly pressed eight of its ships and four aircraft to search the area to locate its missing two officers. later, four more ships — two each belonging to the Navy and ICG — joined the search and rescue operation. “The family members of the missing naval officers have been informed about the development,” a Navy spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the Navy has ordered a Board of Inquiry to establish the cause of the mishap. The Navy has on its fleet 36 Dornier aircraft, engaged in search and rescue, maritime surveillance and commuter duties.  Tuesday’s is the first crash of a Dornier since it was inducted in the Navy in the early nineties.

During the day, Chief of Naval Naval Staff Admiral RK Dhowan flew down to Goa and took stock of the search and rescue operation. He also met the families of the crew members on board the aircraft involved in the mishap. He met Cdr Joshi at the Patangali Navy Hospital, before returning to the capital in the evening.