Army Expedition Recovers 4 More Bodies from 56-Year-Old IAF Plane Crash in Himachal Pradesh

Army Expedition Recovers 4 More Bodies from 56-Year-Old IAF Plane Crash in Himachal Pradesh

Four more bodies have been discovered from the crash site by an Indian Army expedition, fifty-six years after an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft crashed in Rohtang Pass, Himachal Pradesh. This is a major milestone in one of India’s longest-running search and recovery efforts.

On February 7, 1968, Chandigarh saw the takeoff of the four-engine turboprop Antonov-12 military transport aircraft. Unfortunately, bad weather brought it to an unhappy conclusion. The debris and the survivors’ remains vanished into the snow-covered landscape.

After the wreckage of the aircraft was originally spotted in 2003 by mountaineers from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering, the Indian Army, in particular the Dogra Scouts, launched a series of excursions and led the search in 2005, 2006, 2013, and 2019.

Through years of intensive search and recovery efforts, by 2019 only five bodies had been located. The number of bodies has now increased to nine thanks to the recent efforts of the Indian Army’s Chandra Bhaga Mountain Expedition, which has recovered four more. Three of the four bodies that were retrieved recently had positive identities, according to Army sources.

How the Bodies Were Identified

According to the Indian Army, documentation discovered on the three deceased’ person helped with their identification. Sepoy Narayan Singh from the Army Medical Corps, Malkhan Singh from the Pioneer Corps, and Craftsman Thomas Charan from the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers are the three troops that have been identified. Malkhan Singh could be identified by a coupon in his wallet, but Narayan Singh could only be identified by his paybook. In a similar vein, the identity of Craftsman Thomas Charan was verified by his paybook.

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The family has been notified of this discovery by the Army, which is currently looking for the identity of the fourth victim. The expedition is set to continue until October 10 as the search for closure in this horrific occurrence goes on.