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Two Dornier surveillance aircraft of the Indian Coast Guard were lined up at the Dabolim air base in Goa for take-off to participate in a formation sortie over Karnataka when the news about the crash of a MiG-29K aircraft of Indian Navy over the sea broke out on Wednesday.
As soon as the information came in about the May Day call over the sea by MiG-29K aircraft, the two aircraft were immediately diverted towards the suspected area of crash on Wednesday, Indian Coast Guard officials said. The aim was to help the pilot of the sister service and rescue him at the earliest, they said.The fighter aircraft was reported to have given the emergency call from 60 nautical miles from Goa over the sea. "Both the surveillance aircraft took off at 8.35 am and arrived at the crash location within 20 minutes of its take-off at 8.55 am. The officials said that the pilot was also located in a dingy there and appeared to be conscious," the officials said. One of the Dornier aircraft descended at a low level to 500 feet above sea level to show his presence to the survivor pilot and give him confidence that he has been located and would be taken to safety soon, the officials said. Meanwhile, a naval ALH Dhruv chopper was also provided with the exact location of the survivor, which also reached the site to pick up the pilot. As soon as the chopper picked up the pilot, the two Dorniers were called back after they completed their mission within 40 minutes of being launched. (ANI)
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