Russian submarine rescue vessel joins search for crashed Indian aircraft

Russian Navy’s rescue ship Igor Belousov joined the search for Indian Air Force aircraft AN-32 that went missing on July 22.

Igor Belousov was on its way to Visakhapatnam for a four-day visit to the Eastern Naval Command.

While the Indian Navy did not say anything about the ship’s search efforts, local media first reported and the Russian embassy in India later confirmed that the ship searched for the missing air force transport plane which had 29 people onboard. The ship, however, was not successful in finding any traces of the aircraft.

Inducted into the Russian Navy’s Pacific Ocean Fleet search-and-rescue force in December 2015, Igor Belousov is used for search-and-rescue of crew in distressed surface vessels and submarines. It can also be used for providing emergency response and ship salvage.

The on-board lifesaving equipment include a 700m deep-diving vehicle called Bester-1 and two deep-diving submersibles used for search and lifting of underwater objects from the seabed. The ship’s ROV dives to depths of up to 1000 meters.