IAF airdrops 8-10 personnel near AN-32 crash site in search of possible survivors, wreckage

The team that has been taken to the AN-32 crash site includes personnel from Indian Air Force, Army, and some civil mountaineers.

The Indian Air Force on Wednesday successfully air dropped 8-10 personnel near the site where the wreckage of AN-32 which went missing on June 3 was found. The personnel were dropped in Arunachal Pradesh in two helicopter sorties and the teams are moving towards the location to search for wreckage and possible survivors of the crash.

The team that has been taken to the crash site includes personnel from Indian Air Force, Army and some civil mountaineers. The wreckage of the AN-32 aircraft was spotted on Tuesday in a heavily forested mountainous terrain by an IAF Mi-17 helicopter. The IAF aircraft had, with 13 people on board, had gone missing on June 3.

"A team comprising personnel from IAF, Army and civil mountaineers have been airlifted to a location close to the crash site," a spokesperson of the IAF said.

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 had launched a massive operation after the aircraft went missing.