Wife Watched IAF Pilot's Plane Disappear, Still Missing After Five Days

When the Indian Air Force aircraft AN-32 went missing on Monday, wife of pilot Ashish Tanwar (29) was posted at the IAF Air Traffic control in Jorhat, Assam. Clearly, she saw the mishap taking place before anyone else. Wife Sandhya was on duty when Tanwar's flight took off from the base at 12:25 pm for the advanced landing ground at Mechuka in Arunachal Pradesh. Sandhya Tanwar watched and was monitoring the progress of the jet that was carrying 13 people including her husband. She was most probably one of the first people to see it going missing on the radar.

In May 2015, Ashish moved to Jorhat after completing his training. Last year, he met Sandhya, who hails from Mathura. The couple got married in February 2018, and the match was arranged by their parents.

It's been more than 125 hours that the Air Force and Navy are searching for the plane in the hills and forests of Arunachal Pradesh. Aided by the army, local police, state government, paramilitary forces, and the local people, they are still unable to find the missing aircraft. These search teams are yet to find the clues of missing aircraft which flew off with 13 people onboard. So far, every possible method has been deployed to find the missing plane. From transport aircraft, UAVs and other sensors to all electronic, radar, optical and infrared sensors including satellites have also been used to scan the area for any probable clues.

Sandhya Tanwar watched and listened to her husband's jet that was carrying 13 people including her husband and saw it going missing on the radar.

Some ground reports were received on the possible location of a crash site. Helicopters were routed to the location, however, no wreckage has been sighted so far," the IAF said in a statement on Monday.

According to the Indian Express, His father has gone to Assam to meet the authorities and receive the updates, while his mother stayed back at home. She cannot speak without crying. She is absolutely shattered. "They lost contact with the flight at 1 pm and she (Sandhya) called us one hour later to inform about what has happened," Flt Lt Ashish's uncle Udaivir Singh said, from the family home in Paliwal. "Initially, we were hopeful that maybe the aircraft crossed China and made an emergency landing, but even in that case, those on board would have surely made some contact by now. If they have crashed in the hills...", he added.

"Some ground reports were received on the possible location of a crash site. Helicopters were routed to the location, however, no wreckage has been sighted so far," the IAF said in a statement on Monday.

In May 2015, Ashish moved to Jorhat after completing his training. Last year, he met Sandhya, who hails from Mathura. The couple got married in February 2018, and the match was arranged by their parents. "They last came home on May 2 because they were on leave until May 26. They left Palwal on May 18 and flew to Bangkok for a holiday. From there, they headed directly to Assam. None of us imagined something like this would happen. Less than 20 days ago, they were both right here,” said Shiv Narayan, Ashish's uncle.

Pic Credit- OmmComNews

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