56 years after IAF plane crash over Rohtang Pass, mortal remains of four more victims found

New Delhi: More than five decades after one of India’s worst aviation disasters, a team of Indian Army soldiers and professional mountaineers has recovered four more bodies of the passengers in that ill-fated aircraft.

The tragedy dates back to February 7, 1968, when an Indian Air Force AN-12 aircraft, carrying 102 passengers, went missing after taking off from Chandigarh and encountering severe weather conditions near the Rohtang Pass.

For decades, the wreckage and remains of the victims remained lost in the icy terrain. The wreckage was discovered in 2003 by the mountaineers from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering leading to multiple expeditions over the years.

The latest one by Dogra Scouts of the Indian Army jointly with the Tiranga Mountain Rescue group recovered the remains of four more individuals from the site, an official said here on Monday.

While three of them have been positively identified, the fourth body’s identification is tentative at the moment, but his family members have been informed. Three of them are from north India and one is from Kerala.

The Dogra Scouts regiment has been at the forefront of the search missions in 2005, 2006, 2013, and 2019. Overcoming the treacherous conditions and unforgiving terrain, they recovered five bodies by 2019.

The latest recovery is a part of the Chandra Bhaga Mountain Expedition and marks a success in one of India’s longest search and rescue operations.

The search for the mortal remains of remaining passengers is going on as the expedition that began on Sept 25 will continue till Oct 10.

Those who have been identified are Malkhan Singh from Pioneers Corps (identified by a voucher in his pocket), Sepoy Narayan Singh (Army Medical Corps) from Garhwal – identified by his pay book - and Craftsman Thomas Charan from the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) Pathanamthitta district in Kerala who was also identified by his pay book.

The documents recovered from the fourth body are not conclusive but the family has been informed on the basis of a tentative identification.