13 feared killed in IAF plane crash near China border
NEW DELHI/GUWAHATI: 13 military personnel, including two officers, were feared killed when an IAF Antonov-32 medium-lift aircraft apparently crashed
somewhere near the Machuka advanced landing ground (ALG) in Arunachal Pradesh, next to the border with China, on Tuesday afternoon. ( Watch )
"The AN-32 was on a regular air maintenance sortie to Machuka from Jorhat. It has gone missing. Search operations are in progress. I cannot say anything more,'' said a senior officer in the Air Headquarters in New Delhi.
Though the senior officer said he would not speculate on the reasons behind the crash, initial reports hold there was "some bad weather'' in the very hilly terrain in the region.
The AN-32, the workhorse of the IAF to ferry troops and supplies to forward areas, apparently lost radio contact with air traffic authorities soon after taking off from Machuka at about 2 pm. While the aircraft crew comprised six IAF personnel, it was also carrying six Army soldiers after off-loading supplies at the Machuka ALG, located in a valley at around 1,890 metres above sea level.
The ill-fated AN-32 was to proceed to another ALG, Mohanbari, from Machuka. "Both Mohanbari and Jorhat lost RT contact with the AN-32 at around 2 pm. We tried to locate the missing aircraft but full-scale recconnaissance flights could not be conducted due to bad weather,'' said an officer.
"While ground search operations are in progress, flights by helicopters and aircraft will be launched first thing in the morning on Wednesday,'' he added.
Eastern Air Command officials, however, dismissed the possibility of the AN-32 crossing over into Chinese airspace by mistake since the flight path to Jorhat or Mohanbari actually takes it away from the Line of Actual Control.
There is apprehension the aircraft crashed somewhere in the dense jungles of Arunachal Pradesh. "There could be the possibility of a technical snag also since the weather at Machuka was not too bad during the take-off. It is true that the weather packs up very fast at Machuka but the AN-32 had landed there quite safely at around 1 pm,'' said the officer.
Machuka, a Buddhist settlement, is a few days drive from the nearest large town and the Army base there is maintained by air. Due to high altitude, transport aircraft cannot land there with a full load. Not only is the weather unpredictable, the landing strip is also quite small, taxing the resources of the pilot and his machine.
The control tower of the ALG consists of a tent and a corrugated hut. There have been many incidents when an aircraft, after landing there, has had to remain there for days till the weather sufficiently improved.
Incidentally, in February last year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had cleared a package to augment infrastructure at ALGs in Arunachal Pradesh -- Machuka, Tuting, Pasighat, Vijainagar and Walong -- as a counter to the Chinese military infrastructure build-up across the border.
The AN-32 fleet of IAF, with over 80 planes, has had a relatively good flight safety record, with the last major crash being recorded in Delhi in 1999, which killed 21 people. The AN-32s, inducted from Russia in the mid-1980s, however, are slated for a much-needed mid-life upgrade and the defence ministry is currently negotiating the contract.
. Why are you trolling here by reposting it and making it look as if its a new crash?
