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Fear mounts: no clue about missing Sukhoi fighter jet with Keralite pilot

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Fear mounts: no clue about missing Sukhoi fighter jet with Keralite pilot A file photo of Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft. PTI

Tezpur/New Delhi: Even as the Indian Air Force intensified the search for the missing Sukhoi fighter jet, it has emerged that one of the two pilots on board was a Keralite. Thiruvananthapuram native flight lieutenant Achuth Dev, 26, is the missing Keralite pilot.

His parents are Kozhikode natives V.P. Sahadev and Sreedevi. Sahadev is a retired ISRO officer. His parents have reached Assam. Achuth had celebrated his birthday on April 21.

On Wednesday, the IAF pressed helicopters and aircraft into service to search for the Sukhoi fighter jet that went missing over Tezpur in Assam, but bad weather affected the operation.

The IAF said the search operation was continuing despite overcast sky and spells of rains and thundershowers in parts of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh where the SU-30 MKI plane is suspected to have crashed. The aircraft with two pilots went missing Tuesday.

No breakthrough yet

An IAF spokesperson said in New Delhi that a Su-30 aircraft with recce capability is also being utilized for locating the missing plane.

Apart from the aerial assets, four groups of IAF personnel, nine parties of the Indian Army and two teams from the state administration have been deployed to look for the fighter jet.

"Search and rescue operations resumed at daybreak today. A C-130 transport aircraft with electro-optical payload, an advanced light helicopter and Chetak helicopters of the IAF have been tasked for this mission," IAF spokesperson wing commander Anupam Banerjee said.

He, however, said "marginal weather" (adverse to a military operation) prevailing over the area being searched, is hampering the operation.

The Sukhoi jet went missing after taking off from Tezpur Air Force station at 10:30 am Tuesday. The plane, which was part of a two-aircraft formation, was on a routine training sortie and had lost radar and radio contact around 60 km northeast of the airbase.

"Till now, no breakthrough has been made in locating the aircraft and its pilots," the IAF spokesperson said.

A massive search operation was launched to trace the plane and the pilots, according to Lt. Col. Sombit Ghosh, the spokesperson of the Army's IV Corps.

The first batch of the Russia-made fighter jet was inducted by the IAF in the late 1990s. Since their induction, seven crashes have taken place.

The country's frontline SU-30 MKI aircraft were deployed in the Tezpur airbase on June 15, 2009 for guarding the Sino- India frontier in Arunachal Pradesh.

(With inputs from PTI)

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