ISLAMABAD – The IAF’s AN-12 aircraft, built by the erstwhile Soviet Union,had gone missing on February 7, 1968
A team of mountaineers stumbled upon a decayed body of a soldier and partsof the wreckage of an IAF plane which crashed in Himachal Pradesh’s SpitiValley 50 years ago, the leader of the team said on Saturday.
The IAF’s AN-12 aircraft, built by the erstwhile Soviet Union, had gonemissing on February 7, 1968, after the pilot had decided to retreat whileon way to Leh from Chandigarh because of inclement weather, according toreports.
The plane was reportedly over Rohtang Pass when it made its last radiocontact. The team of mountaineers which made this startling discovery wason a garbage clean-up expedition to the Chandrabhaga – 13 peak from July 1to 15, Rajiv Rawat who led the expedition team told PTI over phone fromUttarkashi on Saturday.
“We were somewhat taken aback to come upon something we had not expectedwhen we found the remains of the wrecked aircraft as well as the decayedbody of a soldier at Dhaka Glacier, located at an altitude of around 18,000ft above sea level,” Mr. Rawat said.
“First we stumbled upon parts of the wrecked aircraft which was followed bythe discovery of the frozen body of a soldier lying with its head down. Thehand and hair were almost intact despite fifty years of the crash,” he said.
Mr. Rawat said the discovery was made on July 11 but the army authoritieswere informed about it only after the team reached the first road head onits way back on July 15. “We did not touch anything, but took pictures andmade a video and forwarded them to the army authorities,” he said.
When asked what made them conclude that the wreckage was that of the IAFplane that crashed in February 1968 and the body was that of a soldier, themountaineer said they had read about the crash in the area while preparingfor the expedition.
It was confirmed that the body belonged to a soldier after we saw a bagwhich is used by soldiers to carry magazines, he said.
“However, what we found was like a bolt from the blue as fifty long yearshad elapsed since the crash and discovering its remains was the furthestfrom our mind,” he said.
Throwing light on possible factors behind the discovery, Mr. Rawat saidless snowfall in the higher altitudes may be a reason why things buriedlong under snow were coming to the surface, he said.
He said parts of the wreckage and the bodies must be spread over an area of2- 2.5 kilometers.
The clean-up expedition was organised jointly by the Indian MountaineeringFoundation and the ONGC to collect garbage left in high altitudes bytourists and climbers, he said.