Chennai, Jul 22 (UNI) A Port Blair-bound AN-32 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF), with 29 people on board, including six crew members, went missing over the Bay of Bengal this morning. According to official sources the aircraft, which took off from the Tambaram IAF Airbase at 0830 hrs, was flying over the Bay of Bengal. Within 15 minutes after the aircraft, which could fly for four hours without refuelling, took off and later it went off the radar. The last contact the aircraft had with the control IAF control tower was at 0845 hrs, before it went off the radar. The aircraft was on a routine weekly flight for Air Force personnel and was scheduled to land at Port Blair at 1130 hrs. The Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard have launched a massive search operations to locate the missing aircraft. The search operations were on about 200 nautical miles off Chennai. Defence sources said a massive full scale joint operation was underway. An overdue procedure has been ensured. The Indian Navy has deployed its P8 I surveillance aircraft and four ships Karmuckh, Gharial, jyoti and Kuthar, which was involved in a full fledged Search and Rescue (SAR) Operations to trace the missing aircraft. A Navy official said 'we would be able to find out wherever it is'. 'As of now, we will term it as overdue. Three dorniers, including two from Port Blair and Arakkonam, and four ships were deployed in search operations. We are going full force. We will put all assets available with us in search operation for IAF aircraft AN-32', the official said. Meanwhile, defence experts virtually rule out the possibility of any human error into the missing of the aircraft as it was equipped with modern devices. The Russian made AN-32 was considered to be one of the most reliable aircraft in the IAF's fleet. The aircraft has the ability to take off and land from small airstrips. About 100 AN-32s were with the IAF as on date. The missing of AN-32 aircraft of IAF comes a year after a Dornier aircraft of the Indian Coast Guard, on a routine surveillance sortie, went missing on June eight last year with three crew members on board. After a month long hi-tech search operations, the search team recovered the skeletal remains and personal belongings of the three crew members from a depth of 950 metres off Chidambaram coast on July 15 last year. (EDS : Pick up suitably from earlier series). UNI GV CS 1630