The Indian Air Force (IAF) today said that there were no survivors from the An-32 aircraft that crashed in Arunachal Pradesh last week. The Air Force sited the wreckage early this week.
The IAF said, it’s search teams “did not find any survivors”. They added that the families of the 13 personnel on the aircraft had been informed.
The Air Force tweeted, “Eight members of the rescue team have reached the crash site today morning. IAF is sad to inform that there are no survivors from the crash of An 32.”
The An-32, a soviet union twin engine turboprop transport aircraft had gone missing on the 3rd of June at 1pm when it was flying from Assam’s Jorhat to Mechuka, a military landing strip in Arunachal Pradesh. The journey that was supposed to be only 50 minutes.
The wreckage was found on Tuesday in the mountains at a height of around 12,000 feet. It was apparent that the An-32 had crashed into a mountain amid bad weather and poor visibility because of clouds.
On Wednesday, a team of Air Force personnel and local mountaineers scoured the site where the debris of the aircraft was found. The search operation was extremely challenging because of the terrain, incessant rain and lack of roads.
Among the crew members was Flight Lieutenant Ashish Tanwar, whose wife was the Air Traffic Controller when the plane took off from Jorhat. Sandhya Tanwar is also a Flight Lieutenant with the Indian Air Force.
#Update on #An32 crash: Eight members of the rescue team have reached the crash site today morning. IAF is sad to inform that there are no survivors from the crash of An32.
— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) June 13, 2019
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.
— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) June 13, 2019
Source : Various