Two crew members are missing after an Indian navy plane crashed into the sea off the western state of Goa.

The navy said the plane, a Dornier surveillance aircraft, was on a routine flight when it went down late on Tuesday. The cause is not known.

One crew member was rescued and a search operation has been launched for the missing two, navy spokesman Rahul Sinha said in a statement.

It is the latest in a series of mishaps for the Indian military

Last November, one crew member died and four were missing when a navy ship sank during exercises off the coastal city of Visakhapatnam.

In March 2014, a navy officer died in an accident on board a ship being built at a dockyard in Mumbai.

A month earlier, a fire on board a nuclear submarine off Mumbai left two sailors dead. The navy chief resigned in response.

And in August 2013, 18 sailors died in one of the navy's worst disasters when a submarine sank after a fire at the same dockyard in Mumbai.