Technical snag in AN-32 crash not ruled out

A technical snag in the AN-32 transport ircraft that crashed in Arunachal Pradesh killing all the 13 defence personnel on board was not ruled out today as the search for the vital on-board ' black box' that could give clues to the mishap continued.

A technical snag in the AN-32 transport ircraft that crashed in Arunachal Pradesh killing all the 13 defence personnel on board was not ruled out today as the search for the vital on-board ' black box' that could give clues to the mishap continued.

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Officials at the Eastern Air Command(EAC) in Shillong have not ruled out the possibility of a technical snag, with local villagers near the crash site informing the search team that they saw a fireball in the air followed by a loud sound.

The plane had began its sortie from Mohanbari in Upper Assam's Dibrugarh district carrying essential commodities to the army base near Mechuka. The Russian-made aircraft, after delivering supplies to the Army establishment, took off from Mechuka to Jorhat but lost radio contact soon after taking off and went missing.

Defence spokesman Wing Commander Ranjib Sahoo at the EAC said search was continuing for the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (also called black box).

The bodies of the victims in Tuesday's crash were being airlifted today from Tato in Arunachal to Jorhat in Assam, IAF sources said. Two Wing Commanders and two Squadron Leaders and one Flight Lieutenant of the IAF were among the victims.

The bodies, too mutilated to be identified, were strewn around the site and would be brought to Rowriah air base near Jorhat, the sources said.