Wreckage of AN-32 aircraft, which went missing with 13 people, found in Arunachal Pradesh: IAF

The wreckage of an IAF aircraft, which went missing eight days ago with 13 people on board, was found Tuesday in Lipo locality of Arunachal Pradesh, the IAF said on Tuesday. The Russian-origin AN-32 aircraft lost contact on the afternoon of June 3 after taking off from Jorhat in Assam for Menchuka advanced landing ground near the border with China. The wreckage of the aircraft has been located in an area called Lipo, the IAF said.

 "The wreckage of the aircraft was spotted today 16 kms north of Lipo, north east of Tato at an approximate elevation of 12,000 ft by the IAF Mi-17 helicopter undertaking search in the expanded search zone," the IAF said in a statement.

"Efforts are now continuing to establish the status of occupants and establish survivors. Further details will be communicated as the recovery actions progress," it said.

The wreckage of the missing #An32 was spotted today 16 Kms North of Lipo, North East of Tato at an approximate elevation of 12000 ft by the #IAF Mi-17 Helicopter undertaking search in the expanded search zone..

— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) June 11, 2019

The IAF had lost another AN-32 aircraft, which crashed near a village in West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, killing all the 13 defence personnel in the mishap in 2009.

This is the exact location 16th km north of Lipo where wreckage of the missing #An32 was spotted at an approximate elevation of 12000 ft by the #IAF Mi-17 Helicopter .@NewsNationTV pic.twitter.com/y2oJvN4Yrl

— Madhurendra kumar (@Madhurendra13) June 11, 2019

The Russian-origin AN-32 aircraft lost contact on the afternoon of June 3 after taking off from Jorhat for Menchuka advanced landing ground near the border with China. A total of eight aircrew and five passengers were on board the aircraft. The AN-32 is a twin-engine turboprop transport aircraft and the IAF currently operates a sizeable number of it.

This is the location 16th km north of Lipo where wreckage of the missing AN-32 was spotted at an approximate elevation of 12000 ft by the IAF Mi-17 Helicopter.

The IAF launched a massive operation to trace the missing aircraft but the search was badly hit by poor weather conditions.

The assets deployed for the operation included Sukhoi-30 aircraft in addition to a fleet of C-130J and AN-32 planes and Mi-17 and ALH helicopters. The ground forces included troops from the Army, Indo Tibetan Border Police and state police.

ISRO's Cartosat and RISAT satellites were also used to take images of the area around Menchuka.