'From the base camp, we will daily trek 14 km up and down on inhospitable peaks to reach the accident spot. Due to to extreme cold and rarefied atmosphere, the team will return to the base camp before sunset. The glacier, still abound with snow, is seven-km-long and half a km wide,' Vasudevan said.

In July 2003, local trekkers on the way to scale the Chanderbhaga ranges spotted a body and some aircraft wreckage. The body had been partially reduced to a skeleton.

A service book and a letter recovered from the army uniform and overcoat on the body led to the identification of the victim as Sepoy Beli Ram. After this, the army and the air force carried out search operations in the area but found nothing.

Expeditions mounted in 2005 and 2006 also yielded no success. In 2007, the search parties managed to retrieve three bodies from the accident spot.

'Still, the family and well-wishers of 98 defence personnel are hoping of getting the mortal remains of their kith and kin,' Vasudevan said.

The entire Lahaul and Spiti district, populated mainly by tribals, remains cut off from the rest of the country for more than six months of the year owing to heavy snowfall. Climatic conditions in the landlocked district are harsh as much of it is a cold desert.