When asked about the progress of the inquiry, Solanki said the information gathered was immediately sent to Air Force and Navy authorities because the incident took place in the sea. The police lacked resources to reach the spot where the incident occurred, he added.

He said that he had also written to the coast guard authorities in Porbandar attaching a map of the area. Officials of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission were also approached for help; ONGC operates several hundred oil wells in the area.

Police sources said that they were also investigating the possibility of the blast being the result of a prank played by people residing in the coastal villages. However, no clue to this effect has been found yet, sources said.

Meanwhile, defence sources confirmed that no IAF plane had flown over the Gulf of Khambhat on August 10 evening. There was also no scheduled commercial flight over the gulf waters that evening. Some residents of Islampura village near Jambusar had earlier said that they had seen two planes flying towards Khambhat.

Naval sources said they had also collected information from villagers and sent it to the senior authorities.