2 weeks on, search continues for missing soldiers in Arunachal

Amit Bathla and Utpal Parashar

DEHRADUN/GUWAHATI: Intensive search operations continued on Sunday to locate two Indian Army personnel, deployed in forward areas of Anjaw district in Arunachal Pradesh, who went missing on May 28, the army said.

Naik Prakash Singh Rana (34) and Lance Naik Harender Singh (28) are presumed to have accidentally fallen into a fast-flowing river close to their post, the army said in a release on Sunday.

“Despite immediate and extensive search and rescue operations.. no success in recovery of the personnel has been achieved,” it said.

The search operations are continuing for the last two weeks and a court of inquiry to investigate into the incident has been convened by the army.

Family members of the two soldiers, both of whom belong to Uttarakhand, have been informed of the incident and are being regularly updated, the release added.

The wife of Prakash Singh Rana, a jawan of the 7th Garhwal Rifles, said she was increasingly getting tensed about her husband’s well-being. “On May 28, he sent me a text in the morning saying he was fine,” Mamta (30) told HT. She said the next day she woke up to the disastrous news conveyed to her by army officials. “Since then, I am being just told that the search operation is underway. Still, his trace is unknown,’’ she said. The couple has two children .

“When will papa come back? Why he isn’t picking up calls? They keep on asking me such questions. I have nothing to tell them,” Mamta said.

Singh, who hails from Guptkashi in Rudraprayag district, has been serving the army for around 10 years. He married Poonam Negi three years ago and they have a one-year-old son. Negi’s wife couldn’t speak to HT as she was unwell.

Another family member, who didn’t wish to be named, said: “Though there is no news about him so far, we are hopeful that he is safe. If army fails to search him in the coming days, then we will see what we can do.”