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  • /Body of soldier killed in 1968 IAF plane crash recovered after 50 years 

Body of soldier killed in 1968 IAF plane crash recovered after 50 years 

Body of soldier killed in 1968 IAF plane crash recovered after 50 years 

1968 Indian Air Force plane crash

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It was declared missing after the failure to find the wreck.

A team of mountaineers found the wreckage of an AN-12 aircraft of the Indian Air Force, crashed in 1968, and body of one of the 102 soldiers on board at Dhaka glacier in Himachal Pradesh. 

On 7 February 1968, an Antonov An-12 twin-engine turboprop transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force disappeared while flying to Leh Airport from Chandigarh International Airport. 

While on approach to Leh the pilot decided to turn back due to inclement weather, the aircraft then went missing with the last radio contact over the Rohtang pass.

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It was declared missing after the failure to find the wreck.

The Soviet Union-built aircraft had gone missing when the pilot had decided to turn back while approaching Leh due to bad weather.

There were 98 passengers and four crew members onboard. A team of mountaineers from the ABV Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports had found some parts of the plane in 2003.

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They had also found the remains of a body, subsequently identified as Sepoy Beli Ram, an Army man who was on the flight.

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Three more bodies were recovered in 2007 by an Indian Army expedition code-named Operation Punaruthan-II. Only five bodies were recovered between 2003 and 2017. It is believed that bodies other victims may also be lying in the area.