Bodies of six Air Force personnel killed in the June 3 AN-32 aircraft crash have been airlifted from the Pari mountain range to Aalo in West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, a senior official said.
The team that had been searching for the wreckage of the plane and remains of those onboard the Russian-made aircraft, on June 19, retrieved the six bodies along with the body parts of seven others from the crash site near Siang district.
According to Siang Deputy Commissioner Rajiv Takuk, the bodies were airlifted to Aalo on June 19 around 5 p.m. IST, while the process to bring the body parts of seven others was still underway.
“The six bodies are likely to be taken to the IAF airbase at Jorhat in Assam on June 20,” Mr. Takuk said, adding that lack of network in the mountains made communication difficult from the crash site.
Last week, the IAF announced that cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder — commonly known as the black box — had been recovered from the crash site.
As the weather condition has improved in the hills, the IAF personnel and Army officers will be able to carry out their operation without disruption, Mr. Takuk hoped.
“Getting updates from the site of operation is a cumbersome task with no road connectivity or mobile network in the region, but the improved weather condition would aid the IAF officers to carry out the remaining operation without much disruption,” he added.
The aircraft went missing about 30 minutes after taking off from Jorhat for Menchuka in Arunachal Pradesh.
