It been days since the Indian Air Force’s Missing AN-32 aircraft went missing, and there’s still not a clue about the plane and the people on board. But a ray of hope finally emerges as the family of one of the men on board claimed that the Airtel number of Airman Raghuvir Verma’s phone was ringing for a short time.
As reported by News18, they said that his Airtel number was ‘on’ and rang a few times after continuous dialling over the last two days. Also, the ‘last seen’ status on his WhatsApp messenger app was showing July 26, four days after the flight went missing on July 22.
According to Raghivur’s father, it was Raghuvir’s mother who first found out that the phone was ringing last evening. But they did not pay much attention to her and thought it to be a rant of a depressed mind. But when they called that number which remained switched off since the plane disappeared, it was ringing. “Miracles happen, don’t they?” asked Raghuvir’s emotional father.
He also added that Raghuvir was coming home on a holiday and asked his father to receive him at the airport minutes before he boarded his flight from the Tambaram air base in Chennai.
IAF and CID officials have been informed about this incident. Raghuvir’s call records will now be examined and once traced, it could give an idea about the location of Raghuvir’s phone, and eventually, his co-passengers and the aircraft.
Raghuvir was posted in Barmer, Rajasthan. It was his first posting after his training in communications in the IAF 2 years ago. His SIM card was also registered in Rajasthan.
Even though a massive search operation was launched, there is hardly any progress on tracking the missing aircraft or ascertaining the reason for its crash.
With time running out, India is seeking help from American defence forces to ascertain whether their satellites had picked up any signal before the disappearance of the plane while rubbishing the possibility of any sabotage.
An international safety network has also been activated to alert merchant ships passing through the area to look out for survivors and debris.
But big questions still raises, like
- What if someone has found Raghuvir’s mobile and they are not certain about its source or who it belonged to?
- Maybe, MAYBE, they are held as hostages somewhere (though it’s very unlikely because our military soldiers are not so forgiving and yielding).
- Maybe, he forgot his phone in Barmer itself and was not carrying it with him.
Questions are more but any answers can be revealed only if authorities find any clue about the missing aircraft. What are your opinions on this?
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