The ground party comprising of Indian Air Force commandos, Special Forces of the Indian Army, local porters and hunters have reached the crash site of the ill-fated AN-32 aircraft in Arunachal Pradesh.
While inclement weather continues to play spoilsport as far as rescue efforts through the aerial route to retrieve the 13 bodies is concerned, the ground team reached the crash site on Wednesday first half.
As per Defence sources, all the ground party members are safe and are constantly in touch with the base camp through satellite phones.
Meanwhile, helicopters including Mi-17s, Cheetahs and Advanced Light Helicopters have been unable to approach the crash site since the last three days because of inclement weather in the valley and the cloud cover over the crash site.
As per a release issued, retrieval operations require the steep mountainsides to be visible for the helicopters to safely hover close to the crash site and for operation crew to be able to see the personnel on the ground. (Northeast Live)
