Soldier's mortal remains consigned to fire after 40 years

Dehradun, Aug 25 (UNI) Mortal remains of Lance Naik Kamal Singh Bhandari, one of the 102 victims of the 1968 AN 12 air crash, were cremated after forty years this morning with full military honours, at his native village Dalsing in Rudraprayag district.

Bhandari's son consigned the body to flames at Chandrapuri Ghat.

A honour guard of 17 Garhwal Rifles paid Gun Salute on the occasion in the presence of Army Officers as administrative officials and hundreds of villagers gathered to witness the last rites.

The AN 12 Aircraft of Indian Air Force had taken off from Chandigarh on February 7, 1968 on a routine logistics sortie to Leh, with 102 persons on board.

Enroute, the aircraft had hit the Chandrabhaga Peak in Lahaul Valley on Lahaul and Spiti District of Himachal Pradesh, owing to inclement weather, killing all on board. A search had failed to find the remains of the aircraft then.

On August 9, an Army expedition team recovered the remains of Bhandari and other two soldiers who had died in the crash from the Lahaul valley in Himachal Pradesh in a glaciated area at an altitude of 17,500 feet.

Army handed over the mortal remains of late Bhandari to his son yesterday evening, when they arrived at Rudraprayag from Chandigarh.

Back home, wife of late Bhandari, Amardeyi Devi, not keen to recall the past moments, said: "Repeating the same process (last rites) after 40 years was like pilling off the same old sad moments again".

She said that she was just 21-year old with a three year old daughter Saraswati and two and a half year old son Harendra when she became a widow.

Recalling the last moment she had passed with her husband, she said the last time she saw him was when he was on his two-month-long annual leave. "He left for his Unit and never returned," she said, with moist eyes.

UNI