IAF says no survivors in AN-32 crash, families of the 13 personnel informed

The Indian Air Force on Thursday confirmed that all 13 personnel who were on board the AN-32 which crashed in Arunachal Pradesh have been killed. The IAF said that its search teams reached the AN-32 crash site on Thursday morning and did not find any survivors. The families of the 13 personnel have been informed of the grim news.

IAF Pays tribute to the brave Air-warriors who lost their life during the #An32 crash on 03 Jun 2019 and stands by with the families of the victims. May their soul rest in peace. — Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) June 13, 2019

The air-warriors who lost their life in the crash are W/C GM Charles, S/L H Vinod, F/L R Thapa, F/L A Tanwar, F/L S Mohanty, F/L MK Garg, WO KK Mishra, Sgt Anoop Kumar, Cpl Sherin, LAC SK Singh, LAC Pankaj, NC(E) Putali and NC(E) Rajesh Kumar.

Thirteen mountaineers from the IAF and the Indian Army along with two civilian mountaineers had on Wednesday been air-dropped near the crash site to establish the status of the 13 occupants of the AN-32. The IAF had spotted the wreckage of the missing aircraft near Lipo in Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday at an approximate elevation of 12,000 feet with the help of an IAF Mi-17 helicopter.

As per the images of the site in Arunachal Pradesh where the aircraft crashed shows how close the plane was to cross the hill but could not do so, probably due to the blockage of view due to clouds. 

IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Ratnakar Singh had said that they will try to get to the wreckage site to search for the black box and CVR of the ill-fated aircraft with tail number K-2752.

The Russian-origin transport 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.