Why mortal remains of men who died in Arunachal crash were sent in cardboard boxes

The mortal remains of the martyrs who died in the helicopter crash in Arunachal Pradesh were sent in cardboard packaging, here's why.

 

IndiaToday.in  | Edited by Neha Vashishth
October 9, 2017 | UPDATED 09:43 IST
Picture for representationPicture for representation

An India Air Force Mi-17 V5 helicopter crashed on October 6, 2017 in Arunachal Pradesh's Chuna area killing all seven people on board.

Out of all the people who were onboard, five were from IAF and two were from Indian Army. All of them died after their helicopter crashed around 12 kilometers from India-China border and around 100 kilometers from Tawang near the Yangstse sector early in the morning.

The bodies of the martyrs were soon sent back and were sent covered in parachute and cardboard boxes.

The reason why bodies were sent in that condition was because all the bodies were charred and needed to be moved quickly.

But, after the pictures of the 'temporary' caskets were shared online by a few, many were angered to see the 'ill-treatment' of the martyrs.

Lt Gen H S Panag, on his Twitter account shared the image of the caskets evoking a rage among many. Many started bashing the Indian Army and Defence Ministry for their resources without confirming about the entire fiasco. As we know, it has become a trend on the social media to evaluate conclusions on the basis of half-information which most of the times end up in anger and rage.

This is how people reacted to the situation:

But, little did anyone know that it wasn't actually the only photo of the martyrs. The photo shared online was just a picture taken at the 1st base where the bodies were received initially.

Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADG PI - Indian Army) then, went to Twitter and shared the matter with everyone to clear out all the misunderstandings.

They tweeted:

In remote mountain areas, this process is considered quite normal by the Indian Army as most of the army bases are located in remote places.

Even in the most commercial hilly areas, it is tough to get all the resources when there is a dire need because of the connectivity issues. This also shows how our Army sustains in the remote areas across the nation.

The team which received the charred bodies had to package the as soon as possible to avoid further damage. The bodies were packed in cargo and parachute packaging in order to be sent to the first site for preparation and casket.

The bodies had to be covered because no family wants to see their family members in such horrific conditions. Even though, body bags are necessary, the Army had to shift them make-shift caskets according to the need of the hour.

The issue was later cleared by the Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman as well when she received a briefing regarding this issue.