Outrage over soldiers’ bodies in cartons

Pictures of mortal remains of military personnel wrapped in cartons sparked outrage on social media causing embarrassment for the defence establishment on Air Force Day.

The images reveal that after being wrapped in plastic bags the mortal remains were put in cartons. The pictures went viral after Lt Gen (retd) HS Panag posted the pictures on Twitter on Sunday morning triggering a debate.

Five Air Force personnel and two Army men died in a helicopter crash near Tawang last week while providing supplies to ground troops at a forward post near the China border. Panag pointed out that body bags should be made available to posts to transport the mortal remains.

While there was no official response from the Air Force, sources said due to constraints of carriage, mortal remains were recovered and sent in available resources.

Last rites of the seven men were performed with full military honours later.

“Our losses in the peacetime are a cause of concern. We are making concerted efforts to minimise accidents and preserve our assets,” Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa had said on Thursday referring to a series of crashes.

The Indian Army responded on Twitter with pictures of coffins wrapped in tricolour. “The mortal remains of the chopper accident on Oct ober 6, 2017, recovered, sent wrapped in local resources is an aberration. Fallen soldiers always given full military honour,” the army statement said.

PREVIOUS MISHAPS

• This is the second incident involving IAF choppers in Arunachal Pradesh in the past 3 months. An Advanced Light Helicopter of the IAF crashed at Sagalee in Papum Pare district on July 4, killing all four on board.