 "Lack of local resources meant bodies from Tawang chopper crash had to be sent back in plastic sacks")
There is considerable outrage over recent photographs of remains of military personnel wrapped in plastic sacks and cardboard that has appeared in the media. The bodies belonged to those onboard the ill-fated Mi-17 helicopter, which crashed in the Tawang region of Arunachal Pradesh and killed all seven personnel. Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa said the cause of accident was possibly disengagement of the tail rotor — a technical snag.
The bodies of the personnel were possibly charred because of the fire that engulfed the crashed helicopter that was delivering kerosene to the forward areas. The photograph showed the name of a Wing Commander, who obviously was piloting the helicopter, written on the makeshift coffin box. The helicopter accident, which happened just before the 85th anniversary of the Indian Air Force, was most unfortunate.
The indignation over the makeshift coffin boxes was worse because it was being perceived that this is how the remains of fallen soldiers were being ‘sent home’ - an inexcusable insult to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives, as well as their families, besides being an affront to the honour of the country. The manner in which the photographs went viral, certainly created that impression. But that was definitely NOT the manner in which these officers were sent home. [caption id=“attachment_4124281” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The Indian Army is not Musharraf’s Army that dumped the bodies of 500 Northern Light Infantry soldiers killed during the Kargil Conflict at their doorstep in the dead of the night without any ceremony, because Musharraf wanted to
showcase them as ‘freedom fighters’, not Pakistani soldiers — as reported by Dawn a month after the Kargil conflict ended. That the Indian Army has always given full military honours to its fallen soldiers is an established fact, as observed by every citizen of this country with adequate coverage in the media. In fact, proper funeral with appropriate military honours is undertaken at the native place of the fallen soldier.
It may be recalled that during the initial stages of the IPKF operations in Sri Lanka, soldiers killed were cremated in situ and the ashes sent to the families. A review was undertaken following demands by next of kin for getting the bodies back. Thereafter, bodies of fallen soldiers have always been sent to their homes with full military honours.
In the case of the makeshift coffins too, the military issued a statement saying, “fallen soldiers (are) always given full military honour”, a subsequent statement saying that due to constraints of carriage effort in high altitude area, helicopters cannot carry full load, “Mortal remains were wrapped in available local resources instead of improvised body bags or coffins, This was an aberration”. What needs to be understood here is that these photographs were clicked at the Guwahati base where the bodies were brought after recovering them from the accident site. Transporting coffin boxes to the accident site is not possible especially in difficult, high altitude terrain. Besides, the post mortem is conducted at the base before placing the remains in the coffin boxes. Many may be unaware of the military honouring ceremony that is conducted before loading the coffin box in the aircraft for onward journey to the home of the dead officers. The difficulties of getting the mortal remains to a base where postmortem, placement in coffin boxes and military honour ceremonies are conducted are difficult to grasp by all and sundry. For example, take the case of a slain officer at the Saltoro Ridge overlooking the Siachen Glacier, where there are posts that even are accessed by ropes at some stage. Only the small-sized Cheetah (Alouette) helicopter can ferry the body down from the nearest helipad. This too is possible by removing the back seat of the Cheetah helicopter and if the sortie is delayed by a day or two because of bad weather, which happens many a time, the limbs of the body may have to be twisted at impossible angles to enable air evacuation, even with the doors of the helicopter removed at those icy heights.
There is no question of a body bag or makeshift coffin before arriving at base. No matter how ghastly this appears, these are realities of military life that must be acknowledged.
One may recall the ‘Coffingate’ that emerged during the Kargil Conflict, because of which Defence Minister George Fernades resigned from his post, the Opposition allegations being that coffin boxes were imported at exorbitant costs. It is a different issue that years later Fernandes was absolved of all the accusations by the Supreme Court, even as no bureaucrat of the Ministry of Defence was ever questioned how did they process the case for importing these coffin boxes with “exorbitant costs” during the Kargil Conflict. Now, of course, there are plenty coffin box manufactures in India who also export coffins. Besides, low cost coffin boxes from China have entered the Indian market since 2012. But what has emerged from the current case is that the military apparently does not have proper foldable body bags to transport the mortal remains to the home base. While coffin boxes cannot be transported to accident sites due to aforementioned reasons, it would be good if foldable body bags are carried by helicopters on search and rescue mission, and even by search parties on foot, where feasible. The Ministry of Defence and the Army must examine provisioning of appropriate body bags expeditiously. It is also of concern that the military did no curb the clicking of these pictures and their widespread circulation, causing the narrative to become twisted. The author is retired lieutenant-general of the Indian Army
