Indian Army Recovers Remains From 1968 Air Crash

An expedition of the Indian Army, code named Operation Punaruthan - III, has had some sucess with the retrieval of the bodies of missing soldiers of a 1968 plane crash. The remains of three soldiers, who were killed in the AN 12 aircraft crash 39 years ago near the Chandrabhaga peak, were recovered by the army expedition from the inhospitable terrain of the Lahaul valley in Himachal Pradesh, a glaciated area at an altitude of over 17,500 feet near the Chandrabhaga Peak. The bodies of the three soldiers were recoverd on the 9th August after a detailed search of the area lasting approximately five days.

On February 7, 1968 an AN-12 aircraft of the Indian Air Force had taken off from Chandigarh, on a routine logistics sortie with 102 persons on board. The aircraft hit the towering 6264-meter high Chandrabhaga Peak due to bad weather. There were no survivors of the crash and a detailed search of the area could not find the remains of the aircraft. The aircraft with its 102 passengers were declared missing.

It was only in July 2003, that an expedition from the Manali Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports to Chandrabhaga Peak discovered the wreckage site. Amongst the wreckage, the team also found the remains and documents of Pioneer Beli Ram. Subsequent to the discovery of the wreckage, the Indian Army has been launching expeditions every summer to recover bodies of the lost soldiers. However, these operations had not yielded any positive results during the past three attempts.