Missing Dornier: DNA profiling confirms all crew members dead

Chennai, Aug 09: The Ministry of Defence Public Relations wing based out of Chennai on Sunday evening confirmed that all the three crew members on board the missing Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Dornier are dead.

The ICG officials said that consequent to recovery of wreckage of Coast Guard Dornier (CG-791) and human remains, the extensive search operation code named Talash was called off on July 13.

As part of investigation the human remains recovered by MV Olympic Canyon were handed over Tamil Nadu Forensic Lab Chennai for DNA profiling and to ascertain the identity of three missing air crew.

"During this process the blood samples of families of air crew were obtained for DNA matching. It has been confirmed by the forensic lab that recovered human remains belong to Deputy Commandant Subhash Suresh, Deputy Commandant Vidyasagar and Deputy Commandant M K Soni," the MoD officials said.

They said all bereaved families have been intimated about the confirmation of DNA test.

OneIndia was among the first few media houses that reported on July 10 about the rescue team finding the debris of the aircraft. The Flight Data Recorder was located off Tamil Nadu's Chidambaram-Cuddalore coastline.

The aircraft with three crew members had gone missing since June 8.

The hunt for the Dornier was one of the most extensive search operations under taken in the recent past.
The search efforts comprised of 25 ICG and naval ships with over 2000 personnel extending help.

OneIndia News