AN-12 wreckage found after 37 years

Chandigarh, Aug 24 : Thirty-seven years after it went missing while on a
flight across the Himalayas, the wreckage of an An-12 military aircraft
has been found by an Indian Army expedition in the higher reaches of
Himachal Pradesh.

The wreckage of the Russian-made transport aircraft – that crashed Feb
7, 1968 in bad weather with 112 soldiers and crew on board – was found
spread over five square kilometres at snowy heights of over 18,000 feet
in Lahaul and Spiti district.

The disappearance of the aircraft while on a flight from Leh to
Chandigarh remained one of the greatest mysteries in Indian military
aviation till mountaineers found the frozen body of one of the soldiers
who was on board the plane two years ago.

The search for the aircraft was resumed this year by Ferozpore-based
Arrow Division of the Indian Army, and the wreckage was found in the
second week of August. Soldiers who discovered the wreckage said body
parts of victims, an engine and a wing and some other parts were found
buried 30 feet below hard snow.

Encouraged by the success of the expedition in locating the wreckage,
the army plans to send more search parties to recover bodies of victims
so that “their last rites could be conducted formally” by relatives and
their army units. The search for the aircraft started two years ago
after mountaineers discovered the body of soldier Bali Ram, who hailed
from Jammu and Kashmir. His military uniform and other documents led to
his identification.

The search for the aircraft was called off several months after it went
missing 37 years ago. The search team sent out by the army this year
used the latest technology, including satellite imagery, metal detectors
that could be used in snow, global positioning systems, controlled
explosives and other aids.