New Delhi: The Indian Air Force (IAF) Thursday said all 13 occupants of its An-32 aircraft which crashed in Arunachal Pradesh June 3 were dead.
“Eight members of the rescue team reached the crash site today morning. IAF is sad to inform that there are no survivors from the crash of An-32,” the IAF tweeted. “IAF pays tribute to the brave air warriors who lost their life in the crash… and stands by with the families of the victims. May their soul rest in peace.”
The IAF identified the dead as G.M. Charles, H. Vinod, R. Thapa, A. Tanwar, S. Mohanty, M.K. Garg, K.K. Mishra, Anoop Kumar, Sherin, S.K. Singh, Pankaj, Putali and Rajesh Kumar.
Tuesday, the IAF spotted the wreckage of the missing transporter 16 km north of Lipo, northeast of Tato, at about 12,000 feet above sea level, with the help of an Mi-17 helicopter after eight days of a massive search operation.
The An-32 took off June 3 from Jorhat in Assam for the Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground in Arunachal Pradesh’s Shi-Yomi district bordering China but lost contact with the ground agencies within 35 minutes.
IANS