New Delhi: The search operations for the Indian Air Force AN-32 plane, which went missing over Arunachal Pradesh, entered the fifth day on Friday. Sandhya Tanwar, the wife of the IAF pilot Ashish Tanwar who was flying the aircraft was at the Air Traffic Control (ATC) when the flight took off.

Sandhya was monitoring the Indian Air Force ATC room at 12:25 pm when her husband's AN-32 took off from Jorhat in Assam, the Indian Express reported.

An hour after the jet went off the radar, she called up her family in Haryan's Palwal, her uncle Udaivir Singh told the daily.

The AN-32 aircraft had taken off from Assam's Jorhat on June 3 and was headed for Mechuka Advance Landing Ground (ALG) in Arunachal Pradesh when it lost contact with ground authorities at around 1300 hours and went missing.

The two got married in February 2018 and have been living in Assam. They visited their family in Haryana last month.

Ashish's uncle says that the family has been shattered with the news and his mother has not been able to speak for the past days and his father has rushed to Jorhat as there are no updates of his son.

Most family members of the Tanwar family have been part of the IAF for generations. It was for this reason that Ashish too wanted to join the flight forces.

As search operations enter the fifth day, the Indian Navy on Friday pressed its Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft P8I in the ongoing search operation. It is equipped with special radars and sensors which will help locate the missing plane, informed the Indian Navy.

Meanwhile, the Tanwar family had met defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday at his residence.

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Also Read: IAF AN-32 Aircraft Missing: Indian Navy Joins Search Operations