Emotional Farewell: Air Force Hero Malkhan Singh Laid to Rest After 56 Years

Air Force staffer Malkhan Singh, who went missing 56 years ago in an AN-12 aircraft crash near Rohtang Pass, was finally laid to rest in his village. Identified by a badge, Malkhan’s body remained preserved in snow. Family members demand martyr status and compensation from the government.

The mortal remains of Air Force staffer Malkhan Singh were consigned to flames at his village here, 56 years after he went missing when an AN-12 aircraft crashed near the Rohtang Pass.

The body, buried in snow all these years, was brought to Singh's Fatehpur village by Indian Air Force personnel around 2.30 pm. His family and the villagers were already primed for the arrival, having received the information from the IAF earlier.

The last rites were conducted by the family around 6.30 pm.

As the body reached the village, locals came out on the streets to pay their tributes and raised slogans: 'Malkhan Singh Amar Rahe,' 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

His younger brother, Isam Singh, 68, said Malkhan Singh joined the IAF when he was 20 and died in the crash three years later, leaving behind his wife Sheela Devi and son Ram Prasad, who was 18 months old.

Sheela, who had married Malkhan's other younger brother Chandrapal after the crash, is dead and so is his son, Isam said.

Malkhan would have been 79 now, he said with tears in his eyes.

''He always wanted to join the Air Force. Seeing planes flying above the field, he used to say that he would join the force, which he ultimately did,'' Isam said.

Malkhan Singh's descendents are his grandsons Gautam and Manish, and granddaughters Sonia, Seema, and Monica. While Gautam and Manish drive an auto in Saharanpur, Sonia and Seema are married. Monika, 19, is still studying. Of all his siblings, only Isam and sister Chandrapali are alive. Malkhan's other younger brothers -- Sultan Singh and Chandrapal -- are also dead.

Additional SP Sagar Jain said Malkhan Singh was identified through a badge found near the body. ''The Army informed us that the body was not completely damaged as it was in the snow. His family members can identify him,'' the officer said.

The family members of Malkhan Singh demanded martyr status for him and compensation from the government.

The body of Malkhan Singh and that of four other passengers of the ill-fated plane was found by a joint team of Dogra Scouts of the Indian Army and Tiranga Mountain Rescue. The twin-engine turboprop transport aircraft, carrying 102 people, went missing on February 7, 1968, while flying from Chandigarh to Leh.

''In an extraordinary development, the ongoing search and rescue mission to recover the remains of personnel from the AN-12 aircraft, which crashed on Rohtang Pass in 1968, has achieved significant breakthroughs,'' an officer had earlier said.

For decades, the wreckage and remains of the victims remained lost in the icy terrain. It was only in 2003 when mountaineers from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering discovered the wreckage, sparking multiple expeditions over the years by the Indian Army, especially the Dogra Scouts.

Only five bodies were recovered in 2019 due to the treacherous conditions and unforgiving terrain.

''Malkhan Singh was martyred 56 years ago when an Air Force plane crashed near Siachen Glacier. Malkhan Singh's body was recovered by the rescue operation a few days ago. The body was not damaged since it was buried in snow,'' Jain said.

(With inputs from agencies.)