NEW DELHI – Indian authorities on Saturday offered a cash reward to boosta desperate hunt for a military transport plane missing for nearly a weekand feared to have crashed in a remote northeastern state.
The Indian Air Force and Arunachal Pradesh state government announced the550,000 rupee ($8,000) reward to get village chiefs to organise searchparties for the AN-32 that disappeared from radars last Monday carrying 13people.
The Soviet-built air force plane went missing near the border with Chinaand air searches, satellite surveys and efforts to pick up signals from theplane have all failed.
In addition to using Indian Space Research Organization satellites andother hi-tech means, ground teams have been scouring the Mechuka jungleregion for the plane.
The air force said it would give 500,000 rupees and the state governmentoffered 50,000 rupees for “credible information” leading to the discoveryof the plane.
Rewards after air accidents are rare. An $80 million reward was offeredafter Malaysian Airlines flight went missing in 2014 on a KualaLumpur-Beijing flight. It has not been found.
The Indian military has deployed nine helicopters, fighter jets andtransporters looking for the plane.
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The ground search is concentrated in Siang district and involves police,air force and army forces, the Indo-Tibetan border police, civiladministration teams, hunters and some local people.
A senior district official told AFP that authorities wanted to get villagechiefs more involved.
Bad weather has hampered the search in recent days but a full hunt resumedSaturday.
The turboprop plane was carrying eight crew and five military personnel onthe flight. Many relatives of the missing are waiting in the state city ofJorhat for news. -APP/AFP
