An Indian Coast Guard Dornier aircraft with three crew members aboard has gone missing, a senior official said on Tuesday. He added that search operations are on. The aircraft took off from Chennai airport on Monday evening but did not return after surveillance sorties. The last contact with the aircraft was made at 11 p.m. on Monday at around 95 nautical miles from Chennai, a Coast Guard spokesperson in New Delhi told IANS over phone. The last known location of the aircraft as per radars was Karaikal in Puducherry. The aircraft had two pilots and one observer - all experienced personnel, said the official. He said Coast Guard and Indian Navy ships are conducting search operations. The fishing community along the coast have also been alerted to pass on information if they spot anything in the sea. Five Coast Guard ships, four Naval ships along with ICG and IN aircraft including long range maritime surveillance aircraft P8I have been deployed for search and rescue efforts. One ICG Dornier a/c on a routine surveillance sortie over sea, off Chennai coast, is overdue since 2200 hr last night. SAR on. — Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) June 9, 2015The missing Dornier a/c was the latest induction in ICG, in 2014, and was being flown by highly experienced crew. — Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) June 9, 2015#ICGDornier The last contact with a/c was at 2100 hr and Trichy radar tracked it till 2123 Hr 95 NM South off Chennai. — Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) June 9, 2015#ICGDornier 5 ICG & 4 IN ships, aircraft including LRMS a/c P8I are conducting SAR 4 the missing Dornier (File pic) pic.twitter.com/NpHilImFpK — Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) June 9, 2015With inputs from IANS (Image: Dornier File picture)