Bangla Hunt/ Pallab Ghosh
The wreckage of ill-fated AN-32 of the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been spotted 16 km north of Lipo in Arunachal Pradesh, north eastern province.
The news was twitted by by IAF informing the wreckage has been spotted by the IAF Mi-17 helicopter undertaking search in the expanded search zone. 13 people including eight aircrew were onboard.
On June 3, the aircraft which was of Russian-origin had lost contact immediately after taking off from Jorhat for Menchuka advanced landing ground near the border with China.
The news spread like wild fire and IAF had launched massive hunt to locate the aircraft. The operations were badly affected due to the inclement weather.
Sukhoi-30 aircraft in addition to a fleet of C-130J and AN-32 planes and Mi-17 and ALH helicopters were pressed into action. Ground forces included troops from the Army, Indo Tibetan Border Police and state police also took part in the search operation. ISRO’s Cartosat and RISAT satellites were also used in search operations.