US teams to search for remains of missing personnel in Arunachal

Special US teams from the Defence Personnel Accounting Agency (DPAA) have arrived in India to search for the remains of Americans who went missing somewhere over Arunachal Pradesh during flying missions in World War II.

The specialised identification and recovery teams from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency arrived in India on Sunday to search for Americans who continue to remain unaccounted for from World War II.

The US embassy and DPAA worked with the Indian government to coordinate this opportunity for the agency to work in Arunachal Pradesh, said a US Embassy press release.

This will be the first recovery mission conducted by DPAA in Arunachal Pradesh since December 2009. A majority of missing Americans are believed to be located in this area, since the main air re-supply route from India to China during World War II went over the Himalayas on a route that came to be known as "The Hump".

The recovery of the remains of missing US service members is a stand-alone humanitarian mission, underscoring the Department of Defense's commitment to the fullest possible accounting for US servicemen from the nation's past conflicts.

Falling directly under the office of the Secretary of Defense, the DPAA continues its search for approximately 400 Americans still missing in India and more than 83,000 Americans still missing during the past conflicts worldwide, it said.