Wrapped in a thick blanket of snow high in the harsh, inhospitable terrain of the mighty Himalayas, the frozen body of a valiant Indian Army soldier has waited for over half a century for this very moment. He is going home – finally.
After 56 years, the mortal remains of Sepoy Malkhan Singh’s finally arrived at his birthplace in the Saharanpur district of western Uttar Pradesh, on Thursday. Singh vanished in a 1968 plane crash in the snow-covered mountains above the Rohtang pass in Himachal Pradesh.
One of India’s longest-running search operations came to a conclusion when a joint team consisting of members from Tiranga Mountain Rescue and the Dogra Scouts of the Indian Army discovered Sepoy Singh’s mortal body.
On February 7, 1968, the twin-engine turboprop transport plane carrying 102 passengers vanished when it was traveling from Chandigarh to Leh. Over the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh, the tragic AN-12 aircraft crashed.
The body arrived in at Malkhan Singh’s hometown of Fatehpur village in the Nanauta municipality area of Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh from Ladakh on Thursday. The family will now carry out his last rites.
The official claimed that Singh’s family members are currently getting ready for the funeral rites after learning that the Army has recovered Singh’s remains.
Because of the hazardous circumstances and harsh terrain of the crash site, search and rescue efforts were practically difficult, and the debris and victims’ remains remained hidden in the frozen environment for decades.
After mountaineers from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering found the debris in 2003, the Indian Army, particularly the Dogra Scouts, launched several missions there over the years.
By 2019, there were only five victims’ bodies which had been found.
The three out of four mortal remains found are of Malkhan Singh, Sepoy Narayan Singh and Craftsman Thomas Charan, the officials said.
The documents recovered from the remaining body have not conclusively identified the individual. However, the details of the next of kin were found, the officials said.
