Forty five years after he died in an Indian Air Force plane crash, Jagmal Singh of the Corps of Electrical & Mechanical Engineers got a befitting funeral on Wednesday at his home town in Meerpur village in Rewari district of Haryana.
Singh had perished in the snowy heights of Dakka Glacier in the Chander Bhaga Ranges of lahaul & Spiti in 1968 in a plane crash. His mortal remains was flown in to Chandimandir aboard an Indian Air Force Helicopter on Tuesday. “True to its commitment of recovering the mortal remains and giving the long lost soldier a befitting farewell, the Indian Army ensured that the mortal remains reached Manali by road from where it was transported by the Indian Air Force Helicopter,” a statement from the western Command said.
The mortal remains of Jagmal Singh were transported to his home town Rewari where military funeral was provided. The Havaldar of the Indian army had died 45 years ago after an Indian Army transport aircraft crashed killing all 98 soldiers on-board. An expedition of the Indian Army mountaineers on Friday last had found the body of the soldier who died in the plane crash in February 1968. The mortal remains of the soldier were recovered at an altitude of 18,000 ft.
“His identity was established by an identity disk, an insurance policy and a letter from his family which was found in his pocket,” an army spokesman said. In 2003 the debris of the ill-fated aircraft was accidentally discovered by an expedition team at Dhakka glacier. Since then three search missions till 2009 have recovered four more bodies. The latest search operation started on August 13 this year to locate more bodies.