Rabindranath Ghosh visits family of missing IAF jawan

North Bengal Development Minister Rabindranath Ghosh on Sunday visited the house of Mukesh Thakur, an Indian Air Force jawan in Siliguri who was travelling in the An-32 aircraft of the Indian Air Force which went missing on its way to Port Blair from Chennai.

Ghosh talked to Thakur’s family members and assured them of any cooperation that they would need from the state government. Thakur’s family members are anxiously waiting for his return.

When Ghosh went to the jawan’s house to meet his family, Thakur’s wife Rina broke down in tears. The Minister consoled her and assured her that the state government would keep in touch with the Air Force officials.

After it came into the public domain that Thakur was one of the victims who was aboard the missing aircraft, Ghosh visited Thakur’s residence to convey his sympathy and give support to the family in the hour of crisis.

Thakur’s wife and other members of the family were having sleepless nights as there was no trace of any of the 29 victims even after the 48 hours since the aircraft went missing into the Bay of Bengal. Family members of all the victims are hopeful that they will hear some good news.

Meanwhile, extensive search operations were conducted off Chennai to locate the missing IAF An-32 aircraft. A total of 12 Indian Navy and four Indian Coast Guard ships are currently engaged in the search and rescue operation. The Navy is also maintaining constant liaison with the families of the missing naval sailors and eight defence civilians and providing them regular updates of the ongoing developments in the operation.

Inclement weather had affected the search operation for a while. It is expected that the weather would improve further over the next 24 hours.

A coordinated search and rescue operations by ships, helicopters and fixed wing aircraft would intensify within the next 24 hours, a press release issued by Eastern Naval Command said.