AALO, June 29 - The rescue team comprising of eight Indian Air Force, four Indian Army, three civilians that were stranded on the mountain top of AN32 crash site have finally been safely airlifted today, a DIPR press release said.
After experiencing nightmares of their lives and spending 17 days at an altitude of 12,800 ft, the 15-member team reached here this evening.
Today on a bright sunny day, the operation led by Air Marshal Sandeep Singh, SASO Eastern Command, wasted no time to lift the men and materials from the crash site.
The rescue team and Airforce on duty were received at Aalo Helipad by Commanding Officer Aalo Brigade, Brig Dayalan and Somar Otom, Deputy Director APEDA, who has been coordinating the operation from the civilian side. The team landed at Aalo helipad at 5 pm.
PTI adds: The team was stranded in the border area of Siang and Shi-Yomi districts for 17 days where its members were airdropped and retrieved the bodies of 13 people on board and the black box of the plane.
Despite the ongoing active monsoon conditions, several sorties were launched to reach the crash site, but excessive clouding has prevented helicopter landings there, IAF spokesman said in a statement on Saturday.
The Russian AN-32 aircraft went missing 33 minutes after taking off from Assam�s Jorhat on June 3. It was headed to Mechuka in Shi-Yomi district of Arunachal Pradesh.
The task of retrieving the 13 bodies from the crash site in the Pari mountain in Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh was completed on June 20. While six bodies were retrieved on June 19, the remaining seven were retrieved the next day, the IAF official said.
