The Hindu : National : Soldier cremated 39 years after death

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Soldier cremated 39 years after death

He died in a plane crash in a glaciated area of Himachal Pradesh in 1968

Dehra dun: The semi-fossilised remains of 31-year-old Kamal Singh Bhandari, a soldier killed in a plane crash in a glaciated area of Himachal Pradesh in 1968, was on Saturday consigned to the flames in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand.

Pyre

Thousands of people including army, police and administrative officials attended the cremation in Agastmuni area as Harinder Singh lit the pyre of his father, whom he had never seen.

“The remains, wrapped in a packet was consigned to the flames without even opening it,” Rudraprayag Superintendent of Police V P Singh, who was present there, said.

The remains were brought to his native Dalrigi village in Rudraprayag on Friday evening, and the soldier was given a Guard of Honour by the army at the cremation.

Ex-gratia

The State Government has announced Rs.1lakh ex-gratia for the family members-his wife Amar Dai and son Harinder. An army expedition found the semi-fossilised bodies of three missing soldiers at an altitude of 17,500 ft near Chandrabhaga peak in Lahaul-Spiti area of Himachal on August 9.

Bhandari’s identity was established from the i-cards found at the crash site and the other two are believed to hail from Gurgaon in Haryana.

Transport aircraft

The transport aircraft bound for Leh in Ladakh took off on a “routine logistics sortie” from Chandigarh on February 7, 1968 carrying 102 army personnel on board but crashed in the Lahaul-Spiti valley.- PTI

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