36 hours on, no trace of Coast Guard plane with 3 on board

With the search for the missing Coast Guard Dornier aircraft with three crew members making no headway, more ships will join the operation and a review of the situation is on, a top official said on Wednesday.

"We have got no input so far about the missing aircraft" which went off the radar on Monday night, Inspector General S P Sharma, Commander, Coast Guard (East), told PTI in Chennai.

"There are no concrete signals (from the Dornier plane) from the coastal areas," he said.

Asked if the search operation will be stepped up, Sharma said, "More ships will join the search effort and we are now reviewing the situation."

The search continues without any break to locate the plane, he said.

Eight ships -- four each belonging to the Coast Guard and the Indian Navy -- are already involved in the search operation. A long-range maritime surveillance aircraft P81 and helicopters have also been involved in the exercise.

The aircraft CG-791, which was inducted last year, went off the radar at 9.23 PM on Monday during a routine surveillance mission.

The pilot, Deputy Commandant Vidyasagar, Co-pilot Deputy Commandant M K Soni and Navigator Deputy Commandant Subash Suresh comprised the crew of the aircraft.