Hopeful parents of MiG pilot announce cash reward of Rs 50,000 to those who will find him

MANALI: Parents of the pilot of crashed MiG 29, who went missing in mountains of Lahaul valley in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday night, have announced a cash reward for those who would trace their son.

On reaching Keylong, the missing pilot's parents contacted Lahaul-Spiti deputy commissioner Rajeev Shankar on Sunday. Shankar said, "His parents have requested the locals to help them search their son. They have announced reward of Rs 50,000 to those who will find him."

He added that the search operation on Sunday too was hit by inclement weather around Chokhang peak where the MiG might had crashed. "High-altitude peaks have been receiving snowfall since morning, while there have been intermittent showers in the lower regions of the district. Weather is extremely cold. It's difficult for search teams to locate the wreckage of the plane," he said.

As the mountains near Lahaul-Spiti have been covered with a fresh blanket of snow, tracing the pilot and the wreckage will get tougher in the coming days. Many residents of Lahaul have joined hands with the military to aid the search and rescue operation.

The MiG 29, which had taken off from Adampur airbase, had crashed near Chokhang village on Tuesday at 8.30 pm. Though villagers had spotted some parts of MiG on Chokhang peak, the complete wreckage and its pilot are still missing.

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Relatives of Squadron Leader D S Tomar, pilot of the MiG-29 that crashed in the high altitude mountains of Lahaul-Spiti last week, announced a reward of Rs 50,000 to any person providing clues to help rescue him.

Prahalad Garg, the father-in-law of Tomar, accompanied by the pilot’s elder brother met Lahaul-Spiti Deputy Commissioner Rajeev Shanker on Sunday.

Garg had come from Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

“They met me during the day and wanted the search operation to be intensified so that they get to know something about Tomar. It’s almost five days and they have been waiting for some clues,” Shanker said.

Meanwhile, the IAF and Army teams, which took up the ground operations in the morning, abandoned it after snowfall started at higher altitudes and even in the main town of Keylong. The search parties returned to the base camp to wait for the weather to clear. Shanker said the IAF has formed teams of trained personnel and on Monday a few more, specially trained for rescue operations in high altitude areas, will join from Ladakh.

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