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CILHI TEAM RETURNS FROM TIBET WITH REMAINS
OF AMERICAN SERVICE MEMBERS
HICKAM AFB, Hawaii - The 14-man search and recovery team out of the
U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory (CILHI) returned to Hawaii
late last week with what is believed to be the remains of four American
service members whose C-46 transport plane crashed in the Tibetan Himalayas of China in March
1944. The aircraft was based at Sookerating, India, and was reported
missing in flight enroute from Kunming, China to its home base during
World War II. It is believed the aircraft became lost, ran out of
gas and crashed. The aircraft wreckage was located in a cliff face
above a ravine.
The search and recovery team was in China for two
months excavating the crash site located at about 15,600 ft. The CILHI
team consisted of a team leader, a team sergeant, a forensic anthropologist,
two mortuary affairs specialists, a forensic photographer, and several
augmentees from units around the world consisting of three mountaineering
specialists, one medic, one flight surgeon, two linguists, and one
embassy representative.
The team initially traveled from Hawaii to Beijing
to Lhasa, China. In Lhasa the team acclimated to the higher altitude.
From there the team drove more than 600 kilometers to Naelong village,
where the rugged road ended. It was then a three-day trek across rivers
and up steep terrain on foot and
horseback to the village of Langko. The team then had a daylong hike
to a location at 15,500 ft where a base camp was constructed. The
team climbed daily to the crash site.
Near the end of the mission a four-man investigative
element broke off from the team and spent seven days climbing three
15,000 foot mountains enroute to another crash site of a C-46 from
World War II. The investigative element gathered information to assist
CILHI researchers in correlating the second crash site to three unaccounted
for American service members.
The remains recovered from the initial crash site
in China were transported to the U.S. Army Central Identification
Laboratory where they will be analyzed for identification potential.
There, the world's largest staff of forensic anthropologists will
derive biological profiles indicating the age, race, sex and stature
of the remains. The dental remains will be analyzed by the CILHI forensic
odontologists who will compare them to dental records of the those
who were on the aircraft. If an identification can not be made using
those identification tools, the forensic staff may determine that
the comparison of mitochrondrial DNA is needed. The identification
of the remains can take anywhere from several months to several years.
The CILHI staff remains committed and dedicated to recovering and
identifying all service members killed in previous wars. For additional
information call the U.S. Central Identification Laboratory Public
Affairs Officer (808) 448-8903 extension 109.
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