56 years after IAF aircraft crash, mortal remains of soldier to reach native village in UP

SAHARANPUR: After a 56-year-long wait, the mortal remains of Sepoy Malkhan Singh, who went missing in a 1968 aircraft crash at the snow-clad mountains of Himachal Pradesh’s Rohtang, will be arriving at his home here, officials said here.

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.

Additional SP Sagar Jain said the body is expected to reach here from Ladakh by October 3. Singh’s last rites will be performed by the family after the body reaches his native Fatehpur village in Nanauta area.

Singh’s family members were informed about the recovery of the body by the Army recently and they are engaged in preparing for the last rites, the officer said.

Around 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 victims were recovered, marking a significant success in one of India's longest-running search operations.

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," an official said.

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.

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 three out of four mortal remains found 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.