Rajnath Singh pays tribute to air warriors killed in AN-32 Crash

New Delhi, June 21: In a wreath-laying ceremony on Friday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh paid tributes to five of the 13 air-warriors who lost their lives in the AN-32 crash in Arunachal Pradesh on 3 June, IANS reported.

After the ceremony, Singh tweeted, "They served the nation with confidence and courage. I salute their sacrifice in the line of duty."

Earlier on Thursday, the IAF had completed the task of retrieving bodies of all its 13 personnel from the crash site of its AN-32 aircraft in the Pari mountains in Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

They were then flown to Jorhat airport in Assam, PTI reported.

While six bodies were retrieved and airlifted to Aalo in West Siang around 5 pm on Wednesday, the remains of seven others were transported to the district headquarters around noon, Siang Deputy Commissioner Rajiv Takuk told PTI on Thursday.

"The IAF stands with the families and next-of-kin of all the air-warriors who lost their lives in the line of duty," it added.

The wreckage of the missing AN-32 was located by a Mi-17 helicopter on June 11, following which a team of 15 mountaineers was dropped near the crash site the next day.

A rescue team had recovered the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) of the Russian-origin aircraft at the crash site Friday.

The Indian Air Force Thursday said all the 13 people on board the aircraft had died.

The transporter aircraft was going from Jorhat in Assam to Menchuka advanced landing ground near the border with China on June 3 when it had lost contact around half-an-hour after taking off.