The black box of the ill-fated An-32 has suffered major damages which may delay the investigation into the tragic incident

New Delhi: In what is likely to delay the investigation in the An-32 crash, the black box of the ill-fated aircraft has suffered damages. Citing Defence Ministry sources, news agency ANI reported that the IAF investigating team will be sending the black box to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) or other agencies in order to retrieve the data.

"The black box was recovered and brought out of the crash site almost three days ago. It has been damaged in the crash and we are analysing whether the data from it can be retrieved by the HAL or it will have to be sent to some other agency," Defence Ministry sources told news agency ANI.

According to ANI sources, the crash happened due to 'navigational error' and the exact causes will be ascertained only after the probe is complete.

"The air effort from our side has been increased in terms of chopper deployment for getting the mortal remains of the personnel back from the mountain top where even sustaining our rescue team members has become a big task," ANI quoted a source as saying.

According to the ANI report, Eastern Air Commander Air Marshal RK Mathur was slated to visit Bangladesh; the same, however, has been called off as he is busy overseeing the recovery operations. The black box was recovered by a team of mountaineers sent to the site on June 9. The An-32 aircraft of the IAF crashed on June 3 after taking off from Jorhat in Assam.

It was expected to land at Menchuka Advanced Landing Ground (ALG). However, it lost contact with the ground radar at about 1 pm, within about 30 minutes of take-off. A massive search and rescue operation that involved the IAF and local administration resulted in locating the wreckage at about 12,000 feet. All the 13 people on board the aircraft died during the crash.