Missing Indian aircraft located

By Asit Jolly
BBC News, Chandigarh

Remains of the aircraft found at the site

Indian explorers say they have found the remains of an aircraft that went missing in the Himalayas 37 years ago.

The Antonov-12 air force plane carrying 112 soldiers lost radio contact with the ground and was believed to have crashed in the snow-bound mountains.

It was on a flight from Punjab capital, Chandigarh, to Leh in Indian Kashmir on 8 February 1968.

Attempts to locate the wreckage proved futile and had to be abandoned after months of intensive aerial searches.

Two years ago, the Indian army launched a fresh search operation following the discovery of a soldier's body at the base of a Himalayan glacier in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

Hopeful

The soldier was part of a contingent being flown to Indian-administered Kashmir, when the aircraft disappeared.

Reduced to a virtual skeleton but with his clothing intact, documents in the dead man's pockets identified him as Beli Ram, a soldier of the Pioneer Regiment.

Belongings of the passengers recovered from the site

The subsequent search operation involved satellite imagery, global positioning systems, special metal detecting gear and a team of the army's 75 specially trained men.

Earlier this month, the search team combed the snow-bound crash site in the Lahul-Spiti region of the northern Himachal Pradesh state.

An army official said the search had led to the recovery of some body parts of the passengers, one of the plane's engines and the portion of a wing.

The debris found at heights of 18,000ft was buried in 30ft of snow and spread across an area of five sq km.

The army has decided to send a fresh search team who will try to recover the remains of the passengers still buried in the snow.

"We are now very hopeful of recovering the mortal remains of the other airmen and soldiers who died in the crash," an army official said.