Bodies of four soldiers killed in 1968 air crash at Rohtang Pass recovered in India's longest-running search operation

More than 56 years after they were killed in an air crash, the loved ones of four Indian soldiers will now get a chance to say a final goodbye to them. The Indian Army has recovered the mortal remains of four soldiers from the wreckage of an AN-12 aircraft that crashed in the Lahaul Valley of Himachal Pradesh in 1968.

CREDIT: BCCL

Crash of IAF AN-12

The Indian Air Force (IAF) AN-12 aircraft, carrying 102 Army personnel on board, was on a routine flight from Chandigarh to Leh when it met with a tragic accident over the Rohtang Pass on 7th February 1968.

While there were no survivors in one of the worst air crashes in the IAF's history, for decades, the Army had failed to recover the ill-fated aircraft's wreckage.

CREDIT: BCCL

Only nine bodies recovered so far

It was only in 2003 when mountaineers from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering discovered the wreckage. Since then, the Indian Army's Dogra Scouts have undertaken multiple expeditions in search of the mortal remains, in 2005, 2006, 2013, and 2019.

By 2019, a total of five bodies were recovered, including one that was discovered in 2018 at the Dhaka Glacier base camp, located at an altitude of 6,200 metres.

CREDIT: BCCL

Now, in a significant development, a total of four more bodies have been recovered.

According to Mayank Chaudhary, Superintendent of Police of the Lahaul-Spiti district, the Army expedition team that was conducting a mountaineering expedition in the remote and challenging region of CB-13 (Chandrabhaga-13 Peak), near Batal in Lahaul-Spiti, located the mortal remains of the four men.

Three bodies identified

Out of the four bodies, three have been identified as Malkhan Singh, Sepoy Narayan Singh, and Craftsman Thomas Cherian.

Indian Army says, "In an extraordinary development, the ongoing search and rescue mission to recover the remains of personnel from the ill-fated Indian Air Force (IAF) AN-12 aircraft, which crashed on Rohtang Pass in 1968, has achieved significant breakthroughs. The joint team¡­

¡ª ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2024

Extraordinary development: IAF

"In an extraordinary development, the ongoing search and rescue mission to recover the remains of personnel from the AN-12 aircraft, which crashed on Rohtang Pass in 1968, has achieved significant breakthroughs," said an official.

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