"The water level in the city has gone down considerably after initial days of flooding. Since Saturday evening all aerial rescue and relief operations have been called off. There are no further communications from either Tamil Nadu government or Centre to carry them out as the city is slowly returning to normalcy," a top IAF official told PTI on Sunday.
The plane went missing on Friday while flying from Chennai to Port Blair with 29 people on board.
Meanwhile, the search and rescue team is seeking satellite imagery to find any clue of the plane that lost contact over the Bay of Bengal.
Residents of this hamlet have been thronging the house of 24-year-old Airman Pritam Chand since the day the IAF aircraft went missing.
The 125 Helicopter Squadron (Gladiators) since its formation in November 1983 has enhanced its operational capability over the years and earned accolades for its valour and strike capabilities when deployed internally as well as abroad.
In a precarious mission, Wing Commander Charles Simon and Squadron Leader S Venkatramanan and crew rescued a woman in labour from atop a water tank in Chennai. She delivered twins! Archana Masih/Rediff.com spoke to the pilots about that dramatic day.
Rescue and relief operations continued in full swing in Chennai with over a hundred people taken to safety by teams of Army, IAF and NDRF, including a seven-month pregnant woman who was airlifted on Thursday from one of the worst-affected areas in the flooded city.
Battling choppy weather, power crisis, inundated streets and the odds, the students, with a few girls among them, survived through the tough times, keeping each other strong.
This is perhaps the first categorical statement by the government on the fate of the 29 people on board the IAF workhorse.
Over 600 people including more than 130 university students and an old French couple were taken to safety on Friday by a coordinated team of defence and NDRF personnel.
Defence aircraft as also a couple of civilian ones ferried people to Delhi and Hyderabad since morning even as the Indian air Force flew sorties to bring more people to the naval base that has played a critical role in the overall operations.
Pride was writ large on the faces of naval staff at Arakkonam Base that is playing a stellar and critical role in carrying out the rescue and relief operations for people affected by the torrential rains in Chennai.
An emotionally overwhelmed Karthik, father of the twins, is in awe of the IAF now, and says, "I salute these brave men."
5 planes and 13 ships are out trying to track the aircraft, which was carrying 29 people on board.
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