Mountain climbers during a mission to recover the bodies of victims of an Indian Air Force plane crash. An AN-12 transport plane crashes into a snow-capped mountain near Rohtang in Himachal Pradesh on February 7, 1968. Photo: Special Arrangements
Fifty-six years after his death, soldier Narayan Singh’s body will reach his ancestral village in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Thursday, and will be welcomed by his family.
Narayan was one of the four crew members of an Indian Air Force AN-12 transport plane that crashed into a snow-covered mountain near Rohtang in Himachal Pradesh on February 7, 1968. The plane was carrying 102 passengers, including the crew.
A joint team of Dogra Scouts of the Indian Army, in collaboration with representatives of Tiranga Mountain Rescue, recovered the remains of four individuals from the crash site, almost 16,000 ft above the seal level near the Dhaka glacier, earlier this week.
According to an official in the Indian Army involved in the mission, Narayan was a sepoy with the Army Medical Corps (AMC). His body was identified by a pay book found in his pocket. From the records, his address at Kolpudi village in Chamoli was traced and his family informed about the body being brought for last rites.
Jaiveer Singh, Narayan’s stepson, told the Hindus that he died a few years after his marriage to Basanti Devi. Narayan visits his wife once a year and the relationship between the two is only through a letter that is also read by others to Basanti, which is illiterate. This couple has no children. Narayan was the only child of his parents.
In February 1968, the family was informed by telegram in English that Narayan had gone missing after the accident. His family kept waiting for news about him for the next few years, but to no avail.
“NarayanyesHer parents did not want to see my mother (Basanti) spend the rest of her life as a widow and arranged her marriage with my father Bhawan Singh, who was Narayan.yeahfirst cousin,” said Mr. Jaiveer.
Mr. Jaiveer recalled how his mother, who died in 2011, shared memories of Narayan with the seven children, born from her marriage to Bhawan. He died in 2018.
“He talked about how he looked and spoke. Unfortunately, there are no photographs of him, so we have to follow the credentials shown by the Army,” said Mr. Jaiveer who was not ready to accept Narayan’s body at first, but later decided to accept it in memory of his late mother.
“I want to ask the Indian Army why my mother never received compensation or pension. If she had money to live on, she might not have remarried,” he said.
The remains of two other men found at the crash site have also been identified: Malkhan Singh, a sepoy from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh who was identified by a voucher in his pocket, and Thomas Charan, a Craftsman with the Army Electronics Corps and a Mechanical Engineer, who hails from Elanthoor. Pathanamthitta district in Kerala. Malkhan’s wife Shilawati and son Ram Prasad are no more. The grandchildren who work are at stake every day, taking a day off to visit the village to perform the last rites of their grandfather. Last rites were performed with full military honors. In Charan’s case, Eleama’s mother has been informed about the discovery.
While the documents recovered from the four bodies have not been conclusively identified individually, the details of the next of kin have been found, said the Army official, who added that the deceased’s wife Parvati Devi and Netram’s father have been notified.
For decades, the wreckage and remains of the victims have been lost in the ice field. The discovery of the wreckage in 2003 by mountaineers from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering sparked renewed interest in the wreck. The Indian Army, especially the Dogra Scouts, has led various search missions since then, including in 2005, 2006, 2013, and 2019.
Due to the treacherous and unforgiving terrain, only five bodies were found until 2019. However, the Mount Chandra Bhaga Expedition has now found four more bodies, bringing new hope to the families of the deceased and the nation.
“The Chandra Bhaga expedition has once again demonstrated the Indian Army’s relentless determination to bring closure to his family, even after half a century,” the official said, adding that the search for the rest of the passengers continued as the expedition, which ran from September 25 to October 10, remained in noble mission.
Published – 02 October 2024 21:32 IST
