The wreckage of IAF's Su-30 MKI jet that went missing with two pilots on board was found in thick forest around 60 km from Tezpur, Assam. PTI Guwahati: The authorities have reportedly decided to end the search operations for a Sukhoi fighter plane that went missing a week ago with two pilots on board, including a Keralite, Achuth Dev. However, his parents have requested the authorities to continue the search.
The defense authorities are yet to officially announce the decision to end the search.
The Russian-made plane that was on a training flight from the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Tezpur crashed in dense forests in the Assam-Arunachal border area. The Sukhoi's wreckage and black box were found Sunday. Military rescue teams could reach the crash site only after four days on the steep hills.
Discrepancies
IAF officials had informed Dev's parents that pilots could not eject as the aircraft had gone up in flames. They were also told that Dev's purse and the co-pilot's blood-soaked shoes were recovered. However, the family finds contradictions in the authorities' version. They asked how it was possible that the shoes and purse were recovered, when they say several items including the helmet were gutted.
Dev's father P.V. Sahadevan, a former scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization, has sought the continuation of the search, saying that the pilots would have ejected. He has requested intensified search with the deployment of additional forces. In recent Sukhoi crashes in Assam's Naugaon and in Rajasthan, pilots had ejected.
IAF sources also indicate that there is no use in continuing with the search, though there is no official communication yet. The search is being abandoned as the black box has been found, sources said
The IAF had ordered a probe into the crash. The force has lost seven Sukhoi planes in accidents so far.
