The two missing ITBP jawans from the MI-17 chopper that crashed on June 25 in Kedarnath valley are feared to have been burnt to ashes. An ITBP team of expert mountaineers including those who have scaled Mount Everest has been looking for them since the crash without much success.
It is now being suspected that the missing jawans must have been close to the fuel tank and the resulting explosion from the crash must have melted their bodies.
"There is no question of them being alive. And even if they had been blasted to smithereens, we would have found some body parts at least. But nothing, not a trace has been found. So we suspect they took the brunt of the fuel tank explosion and were burnt to ashes," said a senior ITBP official adding that the search teams would now soon be called back.
An MI-17 helicopter carries over 1,000 litres of aviation turbine fuel which on explosion can melt anything in its vicinity.
Earlier the search teams had found some body parts that were suspected to be of the missing jawans. However, it was later identified to be that of an IAF personnel who died in the crash. "The IAF identified the body from the boots," said an ITBP official.
A total of 20 security personnel, including five IAF men, nine NDRF personnel and six ITBP jawans, perished in the crash. Bodies of 18 other victims have already been recovered and identified. The 20 men were going back to their camps after being relieved of their duty as they had been in the valley since the beginning of the deluge.
Meanwhile, ITBP claimed to have completed its rescue operations in Uttarakhand and was now in the process of pulling out its troops. On Tuesday, it rescued 63 people and is now reaching out to locals to help them in any manner possible.
Wednesday 3 July 2013
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Missing-ITBP-jawans-feared-to-have-been-burnt-to-ashes/articleshow/20887136.cms
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