40 years after his death, soldier's body arrives in home state

Guwahati, Aug 20 (UNI) Forty years after he died in an air crash in Lahaul Valley of Himachal Pradesh, soldier Mahendra Nath Phukon's body, which was recovered by troops on August 9 last, was today brought to his home state today.

Phukon's body reached the Dibrugarh airport at around 1500 hours, after which it will be taken to the Joysagar civil hospital in Sivasagar tonight, and handed over to the family members at Amguri tomorrow morning.

A prayer meeting had been organised in the soldier's memory tomorrow morning after which the body will be cremated beside a pond constructed by the soldier's father in the memory of his dead son.

Phukon was among the 102 soldiers, who died when the AN-12 aircraft of the Indian Air Force carrying them from Chandigarh to Leh crashed. The aircraft ran into rough weather and crashed into the 6,264-metre Chandrabhaga peak in Lahaul Valley, killing all on board, in February 1968.

An expedition team of the Dogra Scouts recovered the bodies of three of the soldiers from a glaciated area at an altitude of over 17,500 feet on August 9 last.

UNI