Search operations intensifies at AN-32 crash site, 15 mountaineers inducted

Itanagar: A day after wreckage of the missing An-32 was spotted in the dense forests of a remote area in Arunachal Pradesh, the rescue operation has intensified at the site where aircraft crashed on June 3.

Fifteen mountaineers have been inducted by Mi-17s and Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH). Nine out of the fully equipped mountaineers are from Indian Air Force (IAF), four are from the Indian Army and two are civilian mountaineers.

According to ANI, some mountaineers have already reached the site whereas the rest are on their way.

The site where the wreckage of the AN-32 was spotted is located 16 km north of Lipo and about 12 to 15 km west of Gatte under Payum region of Shi Yomi district.

A picture tweeted by ANI shows the probable crash point of the aircraft. It shows how close the plane was to clear the hill but failed to do reportedly due to lack of visibility due to clouds.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Indian Air Force, Army and the civil administration of Arunachal Pradesh started a massive operation to reach the crash site, IANS reported

“The rescue mission of inducting teams to the crash site, by helicopters has begun. Mi17s and ALH from Army are being utilised,” said defence PRO Wing Commander Ratnakar Singh.

On Tuesday afternoon, the wreckage was spotted when the joint teams of IAF, Army and civil administration carried out an aerial survey, however, nothing was clear about the fate of the 13 people who were on board.