2024-10-01 09:21:49
The Indian army reported the discovery of the bodies of four victims of a plane crash that occurred in 1968 in the Himalayas, in the state of Himachal Pradesh, Day.Az reports citing TASS.
As part of the ongoing operation to recover the remains of passengers from the crashed Indian Air Force An-12 aircraft at Rohtang Pass, the search team has recovered the remains of four more people. This marks a significant step in one of India’s longest-running search and rescue operations.
The dead were identified thanks to documents found on them. The search operation will continue until October 10 as military officials hope to find the remaining victims of the crash that happened 56 years ago.
The An-12 aircraft took off for the last time on February 7, 1968, in severe winter weather, en route from Chandigarh to Leh, where military and air force personnel were present. According to preliminary data, the pilots were unable to control control due to a sharp deterioration in weather conditions, and the plane collided with the spur of the Chandrabhaga peak, whose height exceeds 6,560 meters. There were 102 people on board.
Attempts to find traces of the aircraft during that period were unsuccessful. Only in July 2003, during a special expedition, the wreckage and remains of one of the dead were discovered. In subsequent years, searches yielded no results, and only in 2007 were three more bodies found. New search operations were carried out in 2013 and 2019. For more than half a century, only nine victims of the disaster were found.