No Survivors in AN-32 Crash, Says IAF Two Days After Wreckage Was Spotted Near Arunachal Pradesh

The Indian Air Force on Thursday declared the 13 passengers of the missing AN-32 dead. The IAF condoled their demise and said that the force stood by their families.

A rescue operation had commenced at the crash site of the aircraft that went missing on June 3 and was spotted 16 kilometres north of Lipo in Arunachal Pradesh by Mi-17 helicopters on Tuesday.

Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) and Mi17s of Indian Army are being utilised for the rescue operation that began Wednesday morning, news agency ANI said in a tweet.

With eight crew members and five armed forces personnel on board, the IAF aircraft lost contact with the ground control before it went off radar on June 3. The Russian-made plane, which was on its way to Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground in Shi-Yomi district of Arunachal Pradesh from Jorhat in Assam, went missing 33 minutes after it took off at 12.27 am.

An IAF official said after identifying the wreckage of the AN-32, a Cheetah helicopter and an ALH chopper reached the crash site but could not land due to high elevation and dense forest.

The IAF had on Saturday announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh to anyone providing information about the location of the AN-32 transport aircraft after rough weather hampered search operations.

On Saturday, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa reviewed the overall search operation at a high-level meeting in Assam's Jorhat airbase. He also interacted with the families of the officers and airmen who were on board the aircraft.

The assets deployed for the operation included Sukhoi-30 aircraft in addition to a fleet of C-130J and AN-32 planes and Mi-17 and ALH helicopters. The ground forces included troops from the Army, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the State police.

The IAF had been regularly updating the families of all air warriors on board the aircraft about the rescue operation.