Two Kozhikode natives, identified as Vimal from Makkada and Sajeev Kumar from Kakkoor are among the crew in the IAF's AN-32 plane that lost radar contact and went missing with 29 crew members on Friday morning. 

 

More than 12 Navy and coast guard ships and 12 aircraft are pressed into service for massive search operations over the Bay of Bengal. 

 

The aircraft had 11 Air Force men, one Navy, two Army soldiers, a coast guard member, eight civilians (family members) and six crew members. 

 

AN-32 took off from Tambaram airbase in Chennai for Port Blair at 8.30 am on Friday. The ground staff received the last call from the aircraft 16 minutes after take-off and the pilot had reported "everything normal". Its landing time at Port Blair was 11:45 am but around 9:12 am it fell off the radar, 280 km east of Chennai.