Two Kerala families find closure after agonising wait, thanks to extraordinary recovery missions

Mortal remains of two Kerala men, totally unrelated, one recovered from the depths of a river, another from the snow-filled mountains now share an emotional parallel. They went missing over two different periods of time. The pain, their families felt, was the same - immeasurably deep. Recovery missions, both distinctive by nature and purpose, have brought peace to two families, a relief from the agony of not knowing where their loved ones had gone.

On September 25, when a cabin truck was lifted from the bed of the Gangavali River in Karnataka's Ankola, a family nearly 300 miles away was overcome with a mix of grief and relief. The 72-day search for Arjun, a truck driver from Kozhikode who had been swept away by a landslide, had finally come to an end. Five days later, on September 30, another body was recovered—this time from Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh. It belonged to a 22-year-old man from Pathanamthitta named Thomas Cherian, who had been missing since an Indian Air Force plane crash 56 years ago. His siblings, who had long given up hope, finally received news about Cherian who was a craftsman with the Indian Army. The siblings, who had even lost the only photograph they had of their brother, were finally granted the closure they never thought possible.

“In the military, when someone goes missing, they are classified as ‘missing in action.’ This leaves room for devastating uncertainty—they could be captured, gone AWOL, or lost to a natural disaster. It's a traumatic, hopeless situation for families. That's why closure is so important,” said retired Major General Indrabalan, who led the search mission to trace the three missing persons in Ankola including Arjun. He explained that beyond the emotional and spiritual relief, closure has legal implications as well. “Without a death certificate, families cannot resolve matters of succession, compensation, or even the cause of death,” he added.

Thomas Cherian's brother, Thomas Varghese, who was just in Grade 4 when his brother passed away it meant so much to finally receive his brother's remains after all this time. Varghese recounted how their mother, overcome with grief, clung to the hope that her son would return every time a letter arrived from the army. She passed away in 1998 without ever knowing what truly happened to him. It wasn't until 2003 that the army officially confirmed Cherian's death.

Cherian's body was recovered as part of Indian Army's longest ongoing search and recovery operations. In the dangerous,icy terrain, Dogra Scouts of the Indian Army had undertaken a series of expeditions in search of mortal remains of the crash victims since 2003 when civilian trekkers chanced upon wreckage of an aircraft. Subsequent search by the Army and the Air Force revealed that it belonged to IAF AN-12 which had crashed in the mountains of Chandra-Bhaga range near Rohtang pass in 1968.

Indrabalan terms the efforts of the Dogra scouts to provide closure to the families of 102 passengers who were on the aircraft exemplary. “The efforts to recover the remains of missing soldiers serve two purposes: first, they build morale and camaraderie within the military, showing that no effort will be spared to recover their comrades. Second, they serve as critical training for the forces, preparing them for future adverse scenarios,” he said.

Indrabalan, who led the recovery of Arjun’s truck from the Gangavali River, described the mission as one of the most challenging of his career. “Since Kargil, this was one of the toughest operations I've been part of. When we started, my hopes were low. I was on my way to Delhi when I was called back to Ankola for the second time. The local MLA, Satish Krishna Sai, insisted that I join the mission. He mentioned that Arjun’s sister, Anju, wanted to speak with me. I never spoke to Anju. I flew to Karnataka the next day. I knew how much this closure meant to the family.”

When he reached the site the second time, Indrabalan noted that though he was not more optimistic, there were some factors which worked in their favour. He praised the teamwork involved and acknowledged the contributions of the dredging team led by Mahindra, the Navy and the NDRF, which were crucial to the success of the mission.

“Many of the technologies which we used at Shirur can be applied to different scenarios in future. The Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) technology, which had previously only been used on trolleys, was deployed via drones for the first time during this mission. The potential for this technology is immense. It can help in rescue missions after landslides, and even in detecting enemy mines,” Indrabalan said.

While Shirur proved to be learning curve for the forces, they also provided Arjun's family with much needed closure. “Our hope had faded with each passing day. But we wanted to know what happened to him. We just wanted to bring our Kuttan (Arjun) back home,” his sister Anju said after his remains were recovered.