ITANAGAR/SHILLONG, June 11 (PTI) – The bodies of 13 defence personnel killed in Tuesday’s AN-32 aircraft crash in Arunachal Pradesh were being airlifted today from Tato in Arunachal to Jorhat in Assam, IAF sources said.
The bodies, too mutilated to be identified, were strewn around the site and would be brought to Rowriah air base near Jorhat, the sources said.
“Paramilitary personnel who spotted the wreckage are carrying the bodies to Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground (ALG), from where they would be airlifted,” Defence spokesman Wing Commander Ranjib Sahoo at Eastern Air Command in Shillong said.
Seven IAF and six Army personnel were on board when the cargo aircraft crashed.
A joint search party of Army, ITBP and police recovered the bodies from the mangled aircraft on Rinchi hill, 50 km off Mechuka.
Wing Commander Sahoo said the cause of the crash could be ascertained after the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (also called black box) were found and a search for them was on.
The Russian-made AN-32 aircraft, after delivering supplies to the Army establishment, took off from Mechuka to Jorhat but lost radio contact soon after and went missing.
The flying crew included two Wing Commanders and two Squadron Leaders and one Flight Lieutenant of the IAF.
The wreckage and the bodies were found on the Rinchi hill near Heyo village, north-west of Tato in West Siang district.
The IAF has ordered a court of inquiry into the incident and the probe team is likely to visit the crash site after being briefed by the ground search party about the site and wreckage.
Officials at the EAC here have not ruled out the possibility of a technical snag, with local villagers near the crash site informing the search team that they saw a fire ball in the air that was followed by a huge sound.
The plane had started its sortie from Mohanbari in upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district carrying essential commodities to the army base near Mechuka.
ASSAM TRIBUNE
The bodies, too mutilated to be identified, were strewn around the site and would be brought to Rowriah air base near Jorhat, the sources said.
“Paramilitary personnel who spotted the wreckage are carrying the bodies to Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground (ALG), from where they would be airlifted,” Defence spokesman Wing Commander Ranjib Sahoo at Eastern Air Command in Shillong said.
Seven IAF and six Army personnel were on board when the cargo aircraft crashed.
A joint search party of Army, ITBP and police recovered the bodies from the mangled aircraft on Rinchi hill, 50 km off Mechuka.
Wing Commander Sahoo said the cause of the crash could be ascertained after the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (also called black box) were found and a search for them was on.
The Russian-made AN-32 aircraft, after delivering supplies to the Army establishment, took off from Mechuka to Jorhat but lost radio contact soon after and went missing.
The flying crew included two Wing Commanders and two Squadron Leaders and one Flight Lieutenant of the IAF.
The wreckage and the bodies were found on the Rinchi hill near Heyo village, north-west of Tato in West Siang district.
The IAF has ordered a court of inquiry into the incident and the probe team is likely to visit the crash site after being briefed by the ground search party about the site and wreckage.
Officials at the EAC here have not ruled out the possibility of a technical snag, with local villagers near the crash site informing the search team that they saw a fire ball in the air that was followed by a huge sound.
The plane had started its sortie from Mohanbari in upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district carrying essential commodities to the army base near Mechuka.
ASSAM TRIBUNE
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