New Delhi: Stepping up its nearly two week
long search operation, the IAF has roped in more troops from
the Army including expert mountaineers to locate the crashed
MiG 29 fighter at a possible wreckage site in Lahaul area in
Himachal Pradesh.
"We have identified a particular area at an altitude of
over 15,000 feet in Lahaul and joint Indian Air Force and Army
search teams are scanning the area," IAF officials said here.
There has been no word on the fate of the pilot Squadron
Leader DS Tomar, who had recently completed the fighter
combat leadership course. The crash occurred on the night of
October 18 when the pilot was executing a turn during a
night-flying exercise in high altitude terrain.
The IAF is getting help from over 100 troops from Army's
High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS), 17 Engineers regiment, 3
Ladakh Scouts battalion and 11 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles
battalion.
The troops were recently deployed for the search
operations in the area, which is always vulnerable to
avalanches.
The IAF had managed to locate some parts of the crashed
aircraft with the help of Army and local villagers but not
much success has been achieved in locating the main wreckage.
It has deployed its unmanned aerial vehicles and
fighter aircraft such as the SU-30MKI and the Jaguars to
locate the aircraft and has flown close to 160 sorties for the
search mission.
PTI
First Published: Monday, October 31, 2011, 20:44