Wreckage of missing IAF AN-32 plane spotted, teams begin search operation

The Indian Army and the local Arunachal Scouts are ready to move to ground zero with aid and assistances to establish the status of the 13 occupants of the aircraft, the official said.

Eight days after AN-32 aircraft of the Indian Air Force went missing with 13 people on board after taking off from Assam's Jorhat, the wreckage of the same was spotted in a heavily forested mountainous terrain in Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday. (Representative photo)

New Delhi: Eight days after AN-32 aircraft of the Indian Air Force went missing with 13 people on board after taking off from Assam's Jorhat, the wreckage of the same was spotted in a heavily forested mountainous terrain in Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday. The IAF said efforts are on to establish the status of occupants with Helicopter undertaking search in the expanded search zone. The rescue operation with the help of choppers has commenced from today, while the operation by ground forces is underway since last night, IAF informed on Twitter. Meanwhile, the Indian Army and the local Arunachal Scouts are ready to move to ground zero with aid and assistances to establish the status of the 13 occupants of the aircraft, the official said. However, in what is considered as one of the worst accidents involving a military platform in recent years, the chances of any survivor seems to be very bleak. "The wreckage of the aircraft was spotted today 16 kms North of Lipo, North East of Tato at an approximate elevation of 12,000 feet by an IAF Mi-17 helicopter undertaking search in the expanded search zone," the IAF said in a statement. "Efforts are now continuing to establish the status of occupants and establish survivors," it said.

The wreckage of the missing #An32 was spotted today 16 Kms North of Lipo, North East of Tato at an approximate elevation of 12000 ft by the #IAF Mi-17 Helicopter undertaking search in the expanded search zone..

— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) June 11, 2019

However, nearest landing site has been identified & the rescue operation by helicopters will commence tomorrow early morning. Ground forces will continue to reach the crash site during the night. 2/2

— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) June 11, 2019

Where were the wreckage spotted The IAF said that it has spotted the wreckage of the missing AN-32 aircraft 16-km north of Lipo, northeast of Tato, at an approximate elevation of 12,000 feet with the help of an IAF Mi-17 helicopter undertaking search in the expanded area. 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. Another official said the IAF will send its special commandos 'Garud' to the crash site and carry out an exercise to look for possible survivors.

Arunachal Pradesh Government officials: Map of the site where the missing AN-32 had crashed. The Wreckage was spotted y'day 16 km North of Lipo, North East of Tato, at an approx elevation of 12000 ft,in Arunachal by IAF Mi-17 Helicopter undertaking search in expanded search zone pic.twitter.com/aaK0yvbyoo

— ANI (@ANI) June 12, 2019

Watch- What happened on June 3 • The Russian-origin AN-32 aircraft was going from Jorhat in Assam to Menchuka advanced landing ground near the border with China on June 3 when it lost contact with ground staff at 1 pm, within 33 minutes of taking off. • The IAF launched a massive operation after the aircraft went missing but the search was badly hit due to poor weather conditions. • 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, Indo Tibetan Border Police and state police. • The Indian Navy's P-8I aircraft was also deployed earlier this week as it has electro-optical and infra-red sensors which could be helpful in the search operation. • ISRO's Cartosat and RISAT satellites were also used to take images of the area around Menchuka. • Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command, Air Marshal R.D. Mathur is monitoring the search and rescue operations. • On June 8, the IAF announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for any information leading to the location of the missing aircraft. • Besides, teams of the Indian Army, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), local police and other agencies were involved in the search operations on the ground level from the day the aircraft went missing. The IAF has been regularly updating the families of all those who were on board the AN-32 about the rescue operation. Officials said a total of nine aircraft of the Indian Air Force were involved in accidents this year. An AN-32 aircraft had crashed near a village in West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh in June 2009 in which 13 defence personnel were killed. The aircraft had crashed over the Rinchi Hill above Heyo village, about 30 km from Mechuka advance landing ground. In July 2016, an AN-32 aircraft went missing after taking off from Chennai for Port Blair with 29 people on board. The aircraft could not be traced even after weeks of massive search operations covering 2,17,800 square nautical miles by multiple aircraft. Months later, an IAF court of inquiry concluded that it was unlikely that the missing personnel on board the aircraft would have survived the accident. (With inputs from agencies)