Wreckage of AN-32 spotted in Arunachal Pradesh: Our next effort is to establish status of occupants, says IAF 

The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Tuesday said it had spotted the wreckage of an AN-32 aircraft which went missing with 13 people on board on June 3 in Arunachal Pradesh.

The IAF tweeted: "The wreckage of the missing #An32 was spotted today 16 km north of Lipo, northeast of Tato at an approximate elevation of 12,000 ft by the IAF Mi-17 helicopter undertaking search in the expanded search zone."

"The wreckage of the missing An-32 transporter aircraft has been spotted at Lipo, northeast of Tato, at an approximate elevation of 12,000 feet by the IAF Mi17 helicopter undertaking search in the expanded search zone," IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Ratnakar Singh said.

"Our next effort is to get to the wreckage site to establish the status of the occupants and search for the black box and CVR of the ill-fated aircraft with tail number K-2752," Singh said.

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command, Air Marshal R.D. Mathur is monitoring the search and rescue operations.

To locate the aircraft, Mi-17 helicopters, Advanced Light Helicopters, SU-30 MKI, C130 and Army UAV were pressed into service.

The Indian Navy's Long Range Maritime reconnaissance aircraft P-8I and satellites were also used.

Besides, teams of the Indian Army, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), local police and other agencies were involved in the search operations on the ground level from the day the aircraft went missing.

The transport aircraft took off on June 3 from the Jorhat airbase in Assam for the Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground in the West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

On June 8, the IAF announced a reward of ₹5 lakh for any information leading to the location of the missing aircraft.