Six bodies, remains of 7 others recovered from AN-32 crash site

Six bodies and remains of seven others have been recovered from the crash site of the ill-fated AN-32 days after a massive search operation was initiated, Defence spokesperson Wing Commander Ratnakar Singh in Shillong said on Thursday.

The black box of the aircraft which crashed in Arunachal Pradesh with 13 personnel on board has suffered damage and an investigation by the Indian Air Force to find out the actual cause of the crash may take more time, defence sources had said on Monday. The black box of the plane was recovered by a team of mountaineers on June 9.

The AN-32 aircraft went missing on June 3 after taking off from Assam's Jorhat. The aircraft was headed for Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) in Arunachal Pradesh when it lost contact with ground authorities at around 1 pm.After a massive search and rescue operation for eight days, during which assets from several agencies were deployed, the wreckage of the aircraft was located by a Mi-17 chopper. The wreckage was located 16 km north of Lipo in Arunachal Pradesh at an elevation of 12,000 feet.