Malayali soldier's body found after 56 years, brought to Thiruvananthapuram

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The body of Malayali soldier Thomas Cherian, found from Rohtang snowcaps after 56 years, was brought to Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. The body was brought from Chandigarh to Thiruvananthapuram on a special flight around 1.30 pm today.

Soldier Thomas Cherian will be laid to rest tomorrow at Pathanamthitta. The army is continuing search for other soldiers who went missing in the 1968 accident in Himachal's Rohtang Pass.

Relatives, senior army officers and ministers reached Thiruvananthapuram to receive the body. Union Minister of State Suresh Gopi, Health Minister Veena George, Pangode Military Camp Chief Brigadier MP Salil, Air Base Station Director Capt. TN Manikandan, Military Welfare Board Director Capt. Sheeba Ravi and others paid their last respects.

After a guard of honour by the soldiers, the body was shifted to the hospital mortuary at Pangode Army Camp. The body will be taken to Elanthoor in Pathanamthitta on Friday, with a full army escort.

A Soviet-made aircraft AN32, which was travelling from Chandigarh to Leh with 102 people on board, crashed on a hilltop near Rohtag Pass in 1968. Being a frostbite area with dangerously low temperatures, it was impractical for army officials to continue searching for a long time. Despite their best efforts, no progress was made for decades in finding out the bodies. After the plane wreckage was found in 2003, the search for the bodies intensified.

In 2019, the bodies of five people were found. The bodies of four people were found last day. The Dogra Scouts were assigned to special missions while the Tiranga Mountain Rescue team started searching again on the 25th of September. The mission will continue for ten more days.