Itanagar: The team of 12 rescuers that retrieved the bodies of 13 people who were on board the AN-32 aircraft which crashed June 3 in the mountains of Arunachal Pradesh, continued to remain stranded at the crash site, waiting for the weather to improve so that they could be airlifted, a state government official said Friday. The rescuers are at the crash site since June 12, when they were airdropped for the search operation.
Nine Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel, civilian mountaineer Taka Tamut and two of his associates deputed by the Shi Yomi district administration to guide a foot trek in case the weather continued to mar the chopper service remained stuck, West Siang district Information and Public Relations Officer Gijum Tali told reporters here.
The rescuers are braving the hostile weather conditions and feeding on the ration commodities airdropped for them on the day they were taken to the crash site. They have now remained at a height of 12,000 for 17 days after retrieving the 13 bodies and the black box of the plane.
“The weather condition is not conducive at all to airlift the 12 brave men,” Tali said. “A foot-march would also be dangerous in the monsoon as climbing up and down the mountains would be risky and the dense forest has venomous snakes, wild animals and insects,” he added.
The weather is likely to improve by Saturday or Sunday according to a metrological forecast.
The task of retrieving the 13 bodies from the crash site in the Pari mountains in Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh was completed June 20. While six bodies were retrieved June 19, the remaining seven were retrieved the next day.
PTI