Decades after aircraft crashed in Rohtang, 22-year-old’s body is found, a family in Kerala finally gets closure

Cherian was among 101 people onboard the Indian Air Force AN 12 transport plane which crashed in the mountains near Rohtang on February 7, 1968. His is one of the four bodies that have been recovered by the team.

Cherian, who was just 22 at the time, was the second of the five children of Odalil Thomas and Eliyamma. A bachelor, Cherian joined the Army as a craftsman after completing a pre-university course in Pathanamthitta.

Thomas Cherian

His younger brother Thomas Thomas said, “It has been a long wait for the family. Yesterday, we got a communication from the Military headquarters in Delhi about the recovery of Cherian’s body. His body was almost intact. His uniform pocket had a partially burnt book with his name, apart from his chest number, which helped identify it. We were told that it would be sent back to Kerala in a few days after completing the formalities,” he said.

Cherian was posted at Leh and the tragedy happened while traveling there from Chandigarh.

Recalling that day, Thomas said the family at Elanthoor got the news via a telegram message. “My father was at a local market when he got the telegram from the postman that the plane carrying Cherian is missing. He rushed back home; initially, he could not speak. He collapsed at home after sharing the message,” said Thomas, who retired from BHEL.

The tragedy happened a few days after the Odalil family got a letter from Cherian sharing the news of his posting. The letter was brought home by the youngest brother Thomas Varghese when he returned home from school.

Thomas said the wait has been long and excruciating. “Our father died in 1990 and our mother in 1998. Even during their final days, they waited to hear something about their missing son. Our mother used to get the family pension until her death in 1998. Every year on February 7, we used to remember him and pray, but we have not conducted any death anniversary observance so far,” said Thomas.

In 2003, after the family was officially informed that Cherian was dead, the wait was to hear about the recovery of his body. Every four or five years, the Army used to inform the family that a search was going on. “That gave us hope and we waited for news about the recovery of the body,” he said.

The Odalil family had many members in the Defence forces. Cherian’s elder brother Thomas Mathew was already with the Army at the time of plane crash. Two years after his death, Mathew had to take voluntary retirement following pressure from his parents. His son Sanju is a colonel with the Army.