No survivors in Indian military plane crash

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday said there were no survivors from a military plane crash last week in a remote mountainous region close to China.The Soviet-built AN-32 plane, carrying eight crew and five passengers, disappeared from radars on June 3 in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, prompting a week-long search by the Indian Air Force (IAF).

“Eight members of the rescue team have reached the crash site today (Thursday) morning,” the IAF said on Twitter. “IAF is sad to inform that there are no survivors.”

Helicopters and planes scoured hundreds of square miles of the mountainous region before emergency workers on Tuesday spotted the wreckage on a mountainside at an elevation of some 12,000 feet (3,650 metres). A mountaineering team trekked to the crash spot after being air dropped at a nearby location after two failed attempts.

Authorities had earlier urged locals to organise search in the rugged mountains and announced a cash reward of 550,000 rupees ($8,000) for any information. The twin-engine plane lost contact with ground control 35 minutes after taking off.In 2016, another AN-32 — flying from Chennai to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands—went missing above the Bay of Bengal. It had 29 people aboard and was never found.