Bodies from plane crash recovered from Indian glacier after 56 years

In 1968 a military aircraft carrying more than 100 people crashed into the Himalayas, leading to a five-decade search

The Rohtang Pass is mountain terrain at the eastern end of the Pir Panjal Range in the Himalayas. Getty

The Indian army has recovered the bodies of four soldiers near a Himalayan mountain pass who died when their military aircraft crashed into rugged terrain in 1968 – the culmination of a 56-year search.

The discovery near Rohtang Pass, a treacherous glacial area at an elevation of 13,000 feet, follows one of the longest-running search operations. Dozens of bodies from the disaster are still buried under the glacier.

The An-12 aircraft operated by the Indian Air Force was carrying 102 people when it crashed in Himachal Pradesh on February 7, 1968. The twin-engined turboprop transport plane was flying from Chandigarh, in the northern state of Punjab, to Leh, a desert city in the Ladakh region of the Himalayas.

For more than five decades, Indian authorities searched for the wreckage and the remains of the victims lost in the icy landscape.

A team of personnel from the army's Dogra Scouts and India's Tiranga Mountain Rescue retrieved four bodies near a group of peaks known as the Chandrabhaga range in the district of Lahaul and Spiti, about 70km from Rohtang Pass.

“After the postmortem on the bodies, they will be handed over to their families,” Mayank Chaudhary, a senior police officer in Lahaul and Spiti, told local media.

It comes nearly two decades after the wreckage of the plane was located near a glacier during an expedition by mountaineers. The climbers also discovered the remains of a sepoy, or infantryman.

The Dogra Scouts previously conducted search missions in 2005, 2006, 2013 and 2019 but only recovered five bodies during the last expedition.

The bodies recovered this time were identified using documents found at the scene. Vouchers and receipts bearing the addresses of the soldiers' relatives were discovered. One serviceman was carrying a book that recorded his wages. Their families have been informed.

"When he went missing, my parents were shattered. Mother asked my eldest brother to quit the force and return. She was scared. We have nothing left related to his memory," Thomas Varghese, brother of Thomas Cherian, one of the servicemen from Kerala state whose body has been recovered, told local news.

"The two houses where he spent his childhood are gone. His photo is also lost. It means so much to receive his mortal remains after a long time," Mr Varghese added.

One soldier has not been identified yet as documents recovered have not fully confirmed his identity. Their expedition to the area will continue until October 10, the army said.

“Recovery of these bodies will bring solace to the families who have been waiting for decades, hoping for answers and the return of their loved ones. The search for the mortal remains of other passengers is continuing, as the expedition runs until October 10,” the army said.

The wreckage of the doomed aircraft was first sighted in 2003 and its major portions including aero engines, fuel tank unit, fuselage and a cockpit door were reportedly recovered five years ago by an army-led mountaineering team.