Missing Plane’s wreckage found; no survivors

On June 13, the unfortunate news about the total devastation of the missing Indian Air Force AN-32 was confirmed by IAF. In a tweet, it said “Eight members of the rescue team have reached the crash site today morning (13.06.2019). IAF is sad to inform that there are no survivors from the crash of An32. The following air-warriors lost their life in the tragic #An32 crash – W/C GM Charles, S/L H Vinod, F/L R Thapa, F/L A Tanwar, F/L S Mohanty, F/L MK Garg, WO KK Mishra, Sgt Anoop Kumar, Cpl Sherin, LAC SK Singh, LAC Pankaj, NC(E) Putali & NC(E) Rajesh Kumar.

The Sudden Disappearance:

On June 3, the AN-32 was on its way to Mechunka Advance Landing Ground in Shi-Yomi District of Arunachal Pradesh from Joshat in Assam. The flight took off at 12.27 a.m. and it had around 13 IAF members of various ranks. After 33 mins, the plane went off the radar.

The Search:

The IAF took several search operations despite the bad weather.  Ground teams were deployed, search area was widened, Unmanned Aviation Vehicles and Local Police were also sent to the search area.  The Govt. even announced a Rs.5 Lakhs reward to those who could give any info about the lost plane.

The Discovery:

On 11th of June, the wreckages of the plane were found in Arunachal Pradesh at 16 Kms North of Lipo, North East of Tato at an approximate elevation of 12000 ft by the #IAF Mi-17 Helicopter that undertook the search in the expanded search zone.

Now, it has been confirmed that the brave hearts are no more. On its last tweet, IAF said, “IAF Pays tribute to the brave Air-warriors who lost their life during the #An32 crash on 03 Jun 2019 and stands by with the families of the victims. May their soul rest in peace.”