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Army attempting to locate 1968 Himachal crash victims’ bodies
Shimla, July 28 (IANS)

The Indian Army has embarked on another expedition to locate the bodies of 98 defence personnel who died 41 years ago when the aircraft they were travelling in crashed Feb 7, 1968 in the rugged, cold and inhospitable Himalayan terrain of Himachal Pradesh.
A total of 102 defence personnel, including six crew members, were travelling by the Indian Air Force (IAF) AN-12 aircraft that was flying from Chandigarh to Leh. It crashed on the 17,400 foot high Dakka Glacier in the Chanderbhaga ranges in Lahaul and Spiti district. Only four bodies have so far been found.
‘‘This year, scanty snowfall in the Himalayas has once again rekindled hope of finding the bodies of the victims and the aircraft’s wreckage. It’s still a mystery how the aircraft crashed as its black box is yet to be recovered,’’ Major Vasudevan of the Dogra Scouts, who is leading the expedition, told IANS.
The 20-member expedition mostly comprises mountaineers drawn from the Dogra Scouts.
‘‘Four bodies were recovered during previous search operations carried out by the army and the air force. This time we are hopeful of retrieving more bodies as there was less snowfall during winter on the peaks of Dakka Glacier. Our priority would also be to recover the black box,’’ Vasudevan said.
The team will spend a week acclimatizing at its base camp at Bathal in Lahaul and Spiti district, 350 km from here, and set out on the 10-day search, named ‘‘Op Phoenix’’, on Aug 5.
‘‘From the base camp, we will daily trek 14 km up and down on inhospitable peaks to reach the accident spot. Due to to extreme cold and rarefied atmosphere, the team will return to the base camp before sunset. The glacier, still abound with snow, is seven-km-long and half a km wide,’’ Vasudevan said.
In July 2003, local trekkers on the way to scale the Chanderbhaga ranges spotted a body and some aircraft wreckage. The body had been partially reduced to a skeleton.
A service book and a letter recovered from the army uniform and overcoat on the body led to the identification of the victim as Sepoy Beli Ram. After this, the army and the air force carried out search operations in the area but found nothing.
Expeditions mounted in 2005 and 2006 also yielded no success. In 2007, the search parties managed to retrieve three bodies from the accident spot.
‘‘Still, the family and well-wishers of 98 defence personnel are hoping of getting the mortal remains of their kith and kin,’’ Vasudevan said.
The entire Lahaul and Spiti district, populated mainly by tribals, remains cut off from the rest of the country for more than six months of the year owing to heavy snowfall. Climatic conditions in the landlocked district are harsh as much of it is a cold desert.

HamiltonAir · Member Joined: 25 Dec 2006 Posts: 937 Location: Bangalore

Would the black box be of any use now? I mean, its been 41 yrs, would they be able to retreive anything from the black box?
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HamiltonAir

iflytb20 · Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 11:12 am Post subject:

The black boxes 41 years ago were analogue ones...a stylus tracing the lines on an Aluminium Foil. Considering the cold inside an glacier, chances of the recording being still readable are quite good.

In the crash of the SAA B747 Combi off the coast of Madagascar, the CVR was found after almost two years of being submerged under salt water - and it was still audible.

HamiltonAir · Member Joined: 25 Dec 2006 Posts: 937 Location: Bangalore

Wow I didnt know this, thanx for the info iflytb20 Very Happy

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HamiltonAir

747-237 · Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2013 11:04 pm Post subject:

Nice to revisit a 4+ year old thread, with some good news.

http://twocircles.net/2013aug31/1968_plane_crash_victims_remains_recovered.html

1968 plane crash victim's remains recovered

31 August 2013

An Indian Army expedition retrieved mortal remains of a victim of an Indian Air Force transport aircraft that crashed 1968 in Himachal Pradesh, the Indian Army said Saturday.

A total of 98 army personnel and four crew members were killed when the Indian Air Force AN-12 aircraft crashed on the 17,400-feet high Dhakka Glacier in the Chanderbhaga ranges of Lahaul and Spiti district Feb 7, 1968.

Despite three search missions till 2009, only four bodies could be recovered.

"After 45-and-a-half years, an Indian Army expedition Aug 22 recovered the mortal remains of a non-commissioned officer, Hav Jagmail Singh of Corps of EME," said an official statement by the Chandimandir-based Western Command headquarters.

An identity disk, an insurance policy and a letter from his family retrieved from his pocket helped identify him, the statement said.

"The remains are being brought to Chandimandir Military Station (in Chandigarh) Saturday from where it will be taken to his native place Meerpur village in Rewari district of Haryana for the last rites," it said.

The aircraft had taken off from Chandigarh for Leh.

Halfway, pilot Flt Lt H.K. Singh decided to turn back due to the inclement weather over Jammu and Kashmir.

The last radio contact was near the Rohtang Pass and thereafter the aircraft appeared to have vanished into thin air.

The disappearance remained a mystery until 2003 when an expedition team accidentally discovered the debris at the Dhakka Glacier.

The Indian Army Aug 16 this year embarked on another expedition to try and locate the mortal remains of its fallen comrades as also to recover the flight data recorder (black box).

The expedition of the Dogra Scouts of the Western Command comprised the finest mountaineers of the country, including an Everester.

"The glacier where the operations are underway lies at an altitude of approximately 17,000-18,000 feet, is avalanche-prone and dotted with innumerable crevasses. The site itself is at an 80 degree gradient from the base camp," the statement said.

The high wind velocities and sub-zero temperatures restrict the search window to about 15-20 days a year and that too only for a few hours during the day. The team braving all odds and in the face of extremely hostile weather conditions continued its mission till Aug 30, it added.

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