The area where the soldiers’ remains were found

Chandigarh, Aug. 10: One of the biggest mysteries in Indian military aviation’s history has led to the remains of three soldiers in the Himalayas’ icy heights, 39 years after they died.

Army searchers combing a glacial area at 17,500 feet stumbled on the trio, believed to be on an Indian Air Force plane that had disappeared with 102 people on board on February 7, 1968.

The Antonov-12, ferrying troops and supplies from Chandigarh to Leh on a routine sortie, was thought to have crashed into the 6,264-metre Chandrabhaga peak overlooking the Lahaul valley in Himachal Pradesh.

With no survivors or bodies, nor any trace of the debris, the plane with all its passengers was declared missing. Down the years, the incident took on shades of the Everest mystery involving British climbers Mallory and Irvine who had vanished close to the summit in June 1924, with their bodies eluding searchers for decades.

To the army, the discovery of one frozen corpse in the summer of 2003 was the equivalent — for the mountaineering community — of the finding of Mallory’s in 1999.

The July 2003 Chandrabhaga expedition from the Manali Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sport found the An-12’s wreckage scattered over 5km in an area where snowfall is often heavy.

The remains and documents of Pioneer Beli Ram were spotted under the South Dakka Glacier at a place named Kunzum Pass. He was cremated with full military honours in his village near Akhnoor in Jammu.

Since then, pressure from the relatives of the other passengers and crew has prompted the army to launch expeditions every summer.

Operation Punaruthan III, which found the three soldiers’ remains after a five-day search, was launched on August 2 under Major Nishant Kumar by Dogra Scouts, defence PRO Ashish Goyal said. The remains were flown to Chandigarh today.

Efforts are on to identify the soldiers from the documents and identity cards found on the corpses. Army sources said this could take a long time and may require DNA tests.

After identification is complete, the remains will be ferried to the soldiers’ homes and their last rites performed with full military honours.

The An-12 was from the Chandigarh-based 25 squadron — tasked with maintaining army forward positions in Jammu and Kashmir — and commanded by Flight Lieutenant H.K. Singh.

A probe by Air Marshal (retired) Trilok Ghadioke, then director (personnel-officers) at air headquarters, had put lack of oxygen as a possible cause of the crash after simulating the flight mission.