A vessel belonging to the Geological Survery of India on Sunday discovered debris possibly belonging to missing Indian Air Force flight AN-32 during a deep-sea operation. Defence officials said that the debris was located at a depth of around 3,000 metres, 160 nautical miles off the coast of Chennai, according to the Deccan Herald.

A Coast Guard official said that searchers had intensified their operations around the debris location, adding that they had already searched 4,500 square miles for any trace of the aircraft. The located debris will be recovered and sent to a laboratory for testing to check if they belong to the missing aircraft, he went on to say. While 30 floating objects have been found by Coast Guard and Navy squads so far, none of them have been matched to the missing aircraft.

The IAF flight from Chennai to Port Blair went missing on July 22 with 29 people on board, including six crew members. It was reported that eight people on the flight roster were civilians. Earlier this month, the Defence Ministry told the Lok Sabha that there were likely to be no survivors from the missing aircraft.