Siblings await arrival of body of brother lost in air crash 56 years ago

Thiruvananthapuram: Mary, Thomas and Varghese all aged between 60 to 70 years have mixed feelings over the news that their brother Cherian’s body has been found after 56-long years and are awaiting its arrival.

Cherian, who had joined the Indian Army at the age of 22, went missing in an air crash in 1968.

His worried and grieving family never got his remains.

Now, his body has been spotted along with that of three others and is expected to arrive at their hometown in Elanthoor in Pathanamthitta district, shortly.

The family’s endless wait for Cherian began when he left home in 1968 after getting selected in the Indian Army.

After finishing his training, he was asked to join his posting at Leh. However, the ill-fated Indian Air Force Antonov-12 aircraft went missing on February 7, 1968, while on a flight from Chandigarh to Leh.

It was carrying 102 personnel, including IAF officers, soldiers, and civilians. After encountering severe weather conditions near Rohtang Pass, the aircraft lost contact and vanished in the harsh, snowbound terrain.

That was the last the family heard of him and then began the long wait for any news or mortal remains of the young man.

Had Cherian been alive today he would have been 78-years-old.

Now, 56 years after the heartbreaking incident, his sister Mary has mixed emotions over the news of his remains being found.

Though unable to express her emotions initially, she now states that she is happy that her brother can now rest in the tomb of their parents at their local parish and is impatiently waiting for its arrival.

Cherian’s brother Varghese said, “Our parents, Thomas and Eliyamma, went away from this world grieving their son Cherian, and often used to wish that they had been able to see him one last time. They passed away but we are now waiting to see him one last time.”

Shyju Thomas, who is Cherian’s nephew told IANS that sadly the family does not have any photographs of his uncle as they were misplaced over the decades and the last one was lost during the demolition of their ancestral home.

He added that now the family would be able to see him one last time.

The remains were discovered by a joint team comprising personnel from the Dogra Scouts of the Indian Army and the Tiranga Mountain Rescue as part of the ongoing Chandrabhaga mountain expedition.

For decades, the wreckage remained hidden until 2003, when mountaineers from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering stumbled upon parts of the plane, igniting a series of recovery missions.

After several expeditions by 2019, only five bodies had been retrieved and now four more have been recovered and the three siblings here are impatiently waiting for it to arrive and arrangements are being made for a befitting funeral for Cherian.