C Shivakumar
Chennai:
The uneven Eastern Coast is hampering the efforts of Indian Navy’s
submarine Sindhudhwajj and Hydrographic survey vessel INS Sandhayak to
pinpoint the exact location of Indian Coast Guard’s Dornier aircraft
and its three crew that went missing for more than a week.
The intermittent feeble signals on Saturday had given hope to locate
the aircraft on Sunday morning as the search operation, which was
earlier focussing on the surface, went underwater 16 nautical miles
east of Chidambaram, the place where the Air Traffic Control (ATC)
Radar has lost contact of the aircraft.
But the uneven Eastern seabed proved a hurdle for Indian Navy vessels
to pinpoint the exact location of the aircraft, as the signals were
intermittent. The submarine and sonar vessels emit sonar pulses and
“listen” to the echoes. Since the surface is uneven, they could only
pick intermittent signals but can’t give out exact location.
“This Eastern Coast is different from the Western Coast. In Western
Coast, the sea bed is more of a slope. But in case of the Eastern
Coast seabed, it is uneven. It is suddenly uneven and deep even if you
go beyond 10 metres,” said a Coastguard official.
Thus, the hopes are now resting on National Institute of Technology
research vessel ‘Sagarnidhi’. D Rajasekhar, group head Vessel
Management Cell of NIOT, told Express that Sagarnidhi has required
scientific equipment fitted by which ship will make best efforts to
identify the location of the aircraft. “We received the coordinates
from Coast Guard and by using it we are hopeful of locating the
aircraft if under the sea,” he said.
The research vessel is equipped with multi-beam echo sounder, a device
typically used by hydrographic surveyors to determine the depth of
water and the nature of the seabed. Similarly, the vessel also has
sub-bottom profiler, which is designed to look below the seafloor at
structural geology and sedimentation patterns.
“Through the mapping of the given area, we are hopeful to give
location of the aircraft,” said Rajasekhar. “We have a scientific plan
to locate the aircraft. Once the location is established, which could
take a couple of days, the further course of action would be
undertaken,” the NIOT scientist said.
It is likely that by Tuesday afternoon, a positive result may emanate
in the search and rescue operation. Interestingly, it was Sagarnidhi
which helped retrieve a heavy-weight torpedo lost by a Naval
laboratory during a technology demonstration trial off Visakhapatnam
on December last year. It is learnt that a similar search plan is
being made to locate Indian Coastguard aircraft. The Vessel Management
Cell of NIOT is manning the communication room for last 24 hours and
is constantly in touch with the ship.
After days of futile search, Inspector General SP Sharma, Commander,
Indian Coast Guard (East) is now hoping to get positive results from
Sagarnidhi by Tuesday afternoon. “Once we get the exact location, then
we would press into service Reliance India Limited’s MV Olympic Canyon
with remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) to conduct the salvage
operations to conduct the salvage operations. This we hope could be
done by Wednesday,” he said.
Meanwhile, Indian Coast Guard on Monday said that the Indian Navy
submarine during the under water search operation has picked up feeble
or sporadic signals in the frequency band of 08 to 40KHZ persumably
from the sonar locating beacon of missing aircraft from near the same
location as was indicated by sonar scan by the naval ship.
Mission Sagarnidhi:
Location: 16 nautical miles East of Chidambaram
Technical expertise:
Multi-beam echo sounder: A device typically used by hydrographic
surveyors to determine the depth of water and the nature of the
seabed.
Sub-bottom profiler: The device is designed to look below the seafloor
at structural geology and sedimentation patterns.
How it will help:
The devices will be used to map the sea bed as well as study the
geology. Following which NIOT scientists would analyse the data and
pinpoint the exact location of aircraft.
Why Submarine, Sonar vessel failed:
Both vessels emit sonar pulses and “listen” to the echoes. Since the
surface is uneven, they could only pick intermittent signals but can’t
give out exact location.
Future Course of action:
The data to be evaluated by Chennai-based NIOT scientists pinpointing
exact location by Wednesday.
Salvage operations:
Once the location is confirmed, multi-support vessel (MSV) with
remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) will be pressed into
service
Chennai:
The uneven Eastern Coast is hampering the efforts of Indian Navy’s
submarine Sindhudhwajj and Hydrographic survey vessel INS Sandhayak to
pinpoint the exact location of Indian Coast Guard’s Dornier aircraft
and its three crew that went missing for more than a week.
The intermittent feeble signals on Saturday had given hope to locate
the aircraft on Sunday morning as the search operation, which was
earlier focussing on the surface, went underwater 16 nautical miles
east of Chidambaram, the place where the Air Traffic Control (ATC)
Radar has lost contact of the aircraft.
But the uneven Eastern seabed proved a hurdle for Indian Navy vessels
to pinpoint the exact location of the aircraft, as the signals were
intermittent. The submarine and sonar vessels emit sonar pulses and
“listen” to the echoes. Since the surface is uneven, they could only
pick intermittent signals but can’t give out exact location.
“This Eastern Coast is different from the Western Coast. In Western
Coast, the sea bed is more of a slope. But in case of the Eastern
Coast seabed, it is uneven. It is suddenly uneven and deep even if you
go beyond 10 metres,” said a Coastguard official.
Thus, the hopes are now resting on National Institute of Technology
research vessel ‘Sagarnidhi’. D Rajasekhar, group head Vessel
Management Cell of NIOT, told Express that Sagarnidhi has required
scientific equipment fitted by which ship will make best efforts to
identify the location of the aircraft. “We received the coordinates
from Coast Guard and by using it we are hopeful of locating the
aircraft if under the sea,” he said.
The research vessel is equipped with multi-beam echo sounder, a device
typically used by hydrographic surveyors to determine the depth of
water and the nature of the seabed. Similarly, the vessel also has
sub-bottom profiler, which is designed to look below the seafloor at
structural geology and sedimentation patterns.
“Through the mapping of the given area, we are hopeful to give
location of the aircraft,” said Rajasekhar. “We have a scientific plan
to locate the aircraft. Once the location is established, which could
take a couple of days, the further course of action would be
undertaken,” the NIOT scientist said.
It is likely that by Tuesday afternoon, a positive result may emanate
in the search and rescue operation. Interestingly, it was Sagarnidhi
which helped retrieve a heavy-weight torpedo lost by a Naval
laboratory during a technology demonstration trial off Visakhapatnam
on December last year. It is learnt that a similar search plan is
being made to locate Indian Coastguard aircraft. The Vessel Management
Cell of NIOT is manning the communication room for last 24 hours and
is constantly in touch with the ship.
After days of futile search, Inspector General SP Sharma, Commander,
Indian Coast Guard (East) is now hoping to get positive results from
Sagarnidhi by Tuesday afternoon. “Once we get the exact location, then
we would press into service Reliance India Limited’s MV Olympic Canyon
with remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) to conduct the salvage
operations to conduct the salvage operations. This we hope could be
done by Wednesday,” he said.
Meanwhile, Indian Coast Guard on Monday said that the Indian Navy
submarine during the under water search operation has picked up feeble
or sporadic signals in the frequency band of 08 to 40KHZ persumably
from the sonar locating beacon of missing aircraft from near the same
location as was indicated by sonar scan by the naval ship.
Mission Sagarnidhi:
Location: 16 nautical miles East of Chidambaram
Technical expertise:
Multi-beam echo sounder: A device typically used by hydrographic
surveyors to determine the depth of water and the nature of the
seabed.
Sub-bottom profiler: The device is designed to look below the seafloor
at structural geology and sedimentation patterns.
How it will help:
The devices will be used to map the sea bed as well as study the
geology. Following which NIOT scientists would analyse the data and
pinpoint the exact location of aircraft.
Why Submarine, Sonar vessel failed:
Both vessels emit sonar pulses and “listen” to the echoes. Since the
surface is uneven, they could only pick intermittent signals but can’t
give out exact location.
Future Course of action:
The data to be evaluated by Chennai-based NIOT scientists pinpointing
exact location by Wednesday.
Salvage operations:
Once the location is confirmed, multi-support vessel (MSV) with
remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) will be pressed into
service
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