After 15-days of extensive search operations, six bodies and the remains of seven crew members aboard the Indian Air Force’s AN-32 transport aircraft that crashed in Arunachal Pradesh on June 3, have been recovered from the crash site.
The AN-32 took off from Jorhat in Assam on June 3 and was on its way to the Advanced Landing Ground at Mechuka in Arunachal Pradesh’s Shi Yomi district when it lost contact with ground control.
C-130J and the ground patrols of the Indian Army had launched rescue operations almost immediately after the aircraft went missing. IAF used its fighter planes and helicopters to locate the plane in the mountainous area.
Though the wreckage of the missing aircraft was found on June 11, 16 Km North of Lipo and North East of Tato, in a remote area in Arunachal Pradesh, the IAF until June 13 had not found any trace of any survivors and the families of the 13 personnel have been informed the same.
As per earlier reports, the black box containing the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder had been damaged in the accident which might cause a delay in knowing the exact cause of the crash.
The crash site is a thickly forested mountain slope at an approximate altitude of 12,000 feet. A mountaineering team trekked to the crash spot after being air dropped at a nearby location after two failed attempts. However, as clouds and rain disrupted chopper flight another team of 20 men including 11 porters were dispatched to the crash site on Sunday and arrived at the crash site on Wednesday.
