Pings heard in search for missing Indian air force transport plane, no wreckage found

CHENNAI, India, July 26 (UPI) -- Indian air force teams, searching for a missing military transport plane, are scrambling to determine if four to five pings heard on the ocean floor are from an emergency beacon on the Russian-made aircraft that vanished with 29 people aboard.

Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar told India's upper house of parliament that the government is using all of its resources to search for the aircraft, which departed from Tambaram, a suburb of Chennai, at 8:30 a.m. Friday for a three-hour flight to Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

The aircraft lost contact 16 minutes after takeoff. Some close to the search operation said the aircraft plunged from an altitude of 23,000 feet.

"There are four to five small leads and attempts are being made to verify them," Parrikar told government leaders. An emergency beacon on the twin-engine Antonov An-32 is designed to ping for a month.

Parrikar said there are no plans to contact the United States for assistance in conducting joint naval patrols for the missing aircraft in the areas of the South China Sea where China has laid claim.

India's coast guard commander inspector general, Rajan Bargotra, told reporters at least 13 naval vessels, multiple aircraft, a submarine and satellite imagery are being used in the search, which has been expanded beyond the initial 14,400-square nautical miles.