The body of Thomas Cherian, an Indian Air Force craftsman, was finally recovered after a 56-year wait, from the Himalayas.
Cherian was among 102 passengers on board the ill-fated IAF AN-12 aircraft that crashed in 1968 due to severe weather conditions.
The plane went missing while flying over the Rohtang pass, connecting Himachal Pradesh to Indian-administered Kashmir.
For years, its fate remained a mystery until 2003 when mountaineers discovered the first body. Subsequent search expeditions found eight more bodies, and in 2019, the plane’s wreckage was recovered.
Recently, the army recovered four bodies, including Cherian’s, at 16,000ft above sea level near the Dhaka glacier.
The operation was conducted jointly by the Dogra Scouts and Tiranga Mountain Rescue, utilizing satellite imagery, Recco radar, and drones.
Thomas Thomas, Cherian’s brother, expressed relief and gratitude, saying, “The suffocation of 56 years had suddenly evaporated… I was finally able to breathe again”.
Cherian was just 22 when he went missing, en route to his first field posting in Leh.
The family held a funeral service in their village Elanthoor, Kerala, after receiving Cherian’s coffin draped in the Indian flag. Only 13 bodies have been recovered so far, with harsh weather conditions hindering search efforts.
Jaiveer Singh, nephew of another recovered soldier, Narayan Singh, shared his family’s bittersweet emotions. “I don’t even have a photo of my uncle as a memory,” he said, reflecting on the long wait and lost hope.
Years after Narayan Singh went missing, his family lost hope. So with their consent, Singh’s wife, Basanti Devi, began a new life with one of his cousins. Jaiveer Singh was one of the children born of that relationship.
He says that for years, his mother held on to hopes of Narayan Singh’s return. She died in 2011.
BBC/NGG
