Even as the hope of finding survivors from the Indian Air Force AN 32 which mysteriously disappeared last week dwindles, the families of those waiting for the return of their loved ones have got a ray of optimism.

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This, after the family of one of the airmen noticed that the mobile phone of their son was still active.

Raghuvir Verma's family said they dialed his number which was still active, even though no one picked the call, News 18 reported.

"It was she (Raghuvir's mother)who first found out that the phone was ringing last evening. We did not pay much attention to her and thought it to be a rant of a depressed mind. But when we called that number which remained switched off since the plane disappeared, it was ringing. Miracles happen, don’t they?” Lakhichand Verma, Raghuvir’s father told News 18.

A friend of Raghuvir also backed the family's claim and said the 'last seen' status on his messenger app was showing July 26, four days after the flight went missing.

This comes even as the search joint search operations for the AN-32 continue in the Bay of Bengal.

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With time running out, India has now sought the assistance of US in the search.

The government is seeking help from American defense forces to ascertain whether their satellites had picked up any signal before the disappearance of the plane, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in Rajya Sabha.

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The IAF AN-32 with 28 people on board enroute to Port Blair from Chennai had disappeared on 22 July.

Even though a massive search operation was launched, there is hardly any progress on tracking the missing aircraft or ascertaining the reason of its crash.