By NewsGram Staff Writer

The Navy ship INS Sandhyak has detected intermittent signals likely from the Dornier aircraft that went missing off the coast of Chennai on Monday.

India's Navy, Coast Guard, and Tamil Nadu's Coast Security Group had launched a massive search and rescue operation (SAR) for the Dornier.

The Defence Ministry confirmed in a released statement that the navy ship has picked up beacon signals, which could be from the missing Dornier aircraft.

"INS Sandhyak undertaking sub-surface search, detected intermittent transmission of 37.5 Khz, likely to be from the Sonar Locator Beacon (SLB) of the missing aircraft," a statement from the Defence Ministry said today.

It also said that "a multi coloured sheen of oil in concentric circles was sighted which indicated oozing of oil," adding that the "sample of oil has been sent to the laboratory for analysis."

The Dornier took off from Chennai on Monday evening on a routine surveillance flight, and was last tracked 16 kilometers east of the Chidambaram coast by Trichy airport radar.