Feb 7, 1968, India’s longest-running search Ops successful

New Delhi : More than 56 years after an ill-fated AN-12 aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed over the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh, the mortal remains of four more victims were recovered, marking a significant success in one of India’s longest-running search operations.

Army officials said the mortal remains were found by a joint team comprising personnel from the Dogra Scouts of the Indian Army and Tiranga Mountain Rescue. The twin-engine turboprop transport aircraft, carrying 102 people, had gone missing on February 7, 1968 while flying from Chandigarh to Leh.

“In an extraordinary development, the ongoing search and rescue mission to recover the remains of personnel from the AN-12 aircraft, which crashed on Rohtang Pass in 1968, has achieved significant breakthroughs,” said an official. For decades, the wreckage and remains of the victims remained lost in the icy terrain. It was only in 2003 when mountaineers from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering discovered the wreckage, sparking multiple expeditions over the years by the Indian Army, especially the Dogra Scouts.

The Dogra Scouts have been at the forefront of search missions in 2005, 2006, 2013, and 2019. Only five bodies of the victims were recovered by 2019 in view of the treacherous conditions and unforgiving terrain of the crash site, according to officials. The Chandra Bhaga Mountain Expedition has now recovered four more bodies, bringing renewed hope to the families of the deceased and the nation, they said.

The three out of four mortal remains are of Malkhan Singh, Sepoy Narayan Singh and Craftsman Thomas Charan, the officials said. The documents recovered from the remaining body have not conclusively identified the individual. However, the details of the next of kin were found, the officials said.

Charan hailed from Elanthoor, Pathanamthitta district in Kerala. His next of kin, his mother Eleama, has been informed of the recovery, they said. Malkhan Singh’s identity was confirmed with the help of documents obtained from official records. Sepoy Singh, who worked in the Army Medical Corps, was identified through official documents. Singh hailed from the village of Kolpadi, Chamoli Tehsil in Garhwal, Uttarakhand, the officials said.