An-32 crash: IAF recovers remains of 13 personnel killed in Arunachal crash

Mangalore Today News Network

June 20, 2019: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has recovered the remains of 13 personnel who were onboard the fateful An-32 jet that crashed in a remote location in Arunachal Pradesh earlier this month.

 

The bodies have been recovered 17 days after the An-32 jet went off the radar after it took off from an air base in Assam’s Jorhat.

Efforts are now being made to reach the bodies and remains of the IAF personnel to their respective families.

IAF has recovered six bodies from the wreckage site and mortal remains of the seven other personnel onboard the fateful jet.

This comes nine days after the wreckage was spotted by the IAF rescue teams that were looking for the crashed jet for days.

The mortal remains and other material evidence have to be picked up by helicopters and brought back to Jorhat in stages, the IAF had said earlier.

The rescue operations that were being carried out by Garud commandos, civilian porters and hunters were suspended for days due to bad weather conditions.

Officials said helicopters, including Mi-17s, Cheetah and ALH were unable to approach the crash site for several days because of the inclement weather in the valleys and cloud cover over the crash site.

The transporter aircraft was going from Jorhat in Assam to Menchuka advanced landing ground near the border with China on June 3 when it had lost contact around half-an-hour after taking off.

Earlier it was reported that the black box containing the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been damaged in the accident and may lead to delay in knowing the exact cause of the crash.

"The IAF has flown around 200 sorties towards the AN-32 search and recovery operations," the IAF had said earlier.