51 years later, Army traces its missing aircraft

Nearly 51 years after an Antonov-12 aircraft went missing over the Rohtang Pass in Arunachal Pradesh, the Indian Army — in a joint expedition with the Indian Air Force — traced and successfully recovered parts of it on Sunday.

"An expedition of Dogra Scouts was launched on July 26 to Dhaka Glacier under the aegis of Headquarter Western Command with an aim to recover the mortal remains of soldiers who were on board AN-12 BL-534 Aircraft, which went missing over Rohtang Pass on February 7, 1968," said Indian Army.

On August 6, the expedition was joined by an IAF team to augment the search efforts. After 13 days of rigorous search and recovery operations at an altitude of 5,240-m, the team recovered parts of the AN-12 aircraft like aero-engine, fuselage, electric circuits, propeller, and a cockpit door as well as personal belongings of some passengers. "The search area, including location of recoveries, has been mapped for future reference," the Army said.

A total of 102 Army personnel and four crew members were killed in 1968 when the aircraft crashed on the Dhaka glacier in the Chanderbhaga ranges. In 2003, members of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute were trekking on the South Dhaka glacier when they first came across the remains of a human body, later identified as Sepoy Beli Ram, a soldier of the Indian Army who was on the ill-fated flight.