An Indian military plane with more than 20 people on board has gone missing over the Bay of Bengal says the Indian air force (IAF).
The Antonov-32 transporter aircraft took off from Chennai (Madras) at 08:30 local time (03:00 GMT), bound for Port Blair in the eastern archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar.
It was scheduled to land at 11:30.
Four aircraft and twelve ships have been deployed to search for the missing plane, the ministry of defence said.
The IAF operates more than 100 Antonov-32 aircraft. Surveillance planes and ships are looking for the missing aircraft, which was carrying service personnel to strategic islands near the Malacca Straits, where India has a military base.
India’s ministry of defence initially deployed two airplanes and four ships to look for the missing aircraft.
