Wreckage of World War II US aircraft found in Tripura

Sixty-five years after it crashed, the wreckage of an American plane used during the World War II has been found in a remote hamlet in Tripura.

The aircraft, which crashed on May 17, 1946 with 11 crew members on board due to heavy storm, was known to be carrying remains of allied prisoners of war from Rangoon to Calcutta.

Personnel of the 34 battalion of the Assam Rifles have found the wreckage of the C-47B aircraft on December 16 at Birmanipara, a distant hamlet in Dhalai district, an Assam Rifles statement said in Agartala.

Given the task to find out the details of that particular aircraft, the 34 Assam Rifles personnel launched a series of search operations from September to December 2011 in the dense forests in three hill ridges.

"The task was difficult as the aircraft had crashed 65 years ago and the ecology had changed a lot over a period of time... Old locals faintly remember the crash and aided Assam Rifles in finding out the crash site along with the graves where the crew was laid to rest," the statement said.

During World War II, the allies had lost hundreds of aircraft in the China-Burma-India theatre of operation mainly due to inhospitable weather, mechanical failure or navigational errors.

The American Joint Prisoners of War and Missing in Action Accounting Command had identified 16 sites in the North Eastern region where these aircraft had crashed.

Earlier, wreckages of several World War II US planes were found in Arunachal Pradesh.