A mountaineering expedition found the body of a soldier belonging to the 1968 AN-12 aircraft crash

UTTARKASHI: The AN-12 aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed in the Lahaul valley of Himachal Pradesh with 102 personnel on board while flying from Chandigarh to Leh and was found 50 years after. When a mountaineering expedition located the body of one of the soldiers on board along with some parts of the aircraft.

On July 1st The discovery was made by a team of mountaineers who were on a clean-up expedition to the Chandrabhaga-13 peak. The remains were found at the Dhaka glacier base camp, 6,200 metres above sea level.

“We first found some parts of the aircraft. Subsequently, our team members spotted the decayed body of a soldier a few metres away from the spot, our team took pictures of the body and the plane wreckage, and alerted the Army’s High Altitude Warfare School on July 16, after which their personnel have begun search operations in the area,” said team leader Rajeev Rawat.

The unfortunate plane has been the subject of much intrigue over the decades. The Soviet Union-built aircraft with 98 passengers and four crew members had gone missing in 1968 the 7th of February, after the pilot had decided to turn back while approaching Leh due to inclement weather. The plane was over Rohtang Pass when it made its last radio contact.

Thirty-five years later, in 2003, the plane’s wreckage was discovered in the south Dhaka glacier by an expedition of the ABV Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports, Manali.

Himachal Pradesh: During a cleanliness drive organised by Indian Mountaineering Foundation, a body of one of the victims of 1968 Indian Air Force plane crash was found along with some parts of the aircraft at the Dhaka glacier base camp on July 1. pic.twitter.com/VXLdKLpO6r

— ANI (@ANI) July 21, 2018

The mountaineers also found the remains of a body, subsequently identified as that of Sepoy Beli Ram, an Army man who was on the flight.Body found by the team on cleaning mission Less than three minutes after the pilot had made radio contact with Chandigarh, informing it about its return journey, the aircraft disappeared over the Himalayan ranges.

In August 2007, an Indian Army expedition code named Operation Punaruthan-III recovered three more bodies from the site.

From 2003 till 2017, only five bodies of the crash victims have been restored. It is to be believed that scores of other bodies of the victims may also be lying in the area.