The expedition team had spent a week acclimatising at its base camp at Bathal in Lahaul and Spiti district, 350 km from here. From the base camp, it trudged 14 km daily up and down treacherous peaks to reach the accident spot.

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. Last year there was no expedition due to heavy snow in the region.

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. The climatic conditions are harsh as much of the land falls under a cold desert.