Aalo: The rescue team that was airdropped near the wreckage site of the ill-fated AN-32 aircraft in Siang district on June 12 is still braving hostile weather condition and tough terrain and feeding on rations they had brought along that day.

The team members have been spending the last 17 days at an altitude of 12,000 ft even after the strenuous exercise of recovering the bodies of 13 crew members and the black box of the military transport aircraft, officials said.

The weather condition is not at all conducive till now to lift all those 12 brave men from the Indian Air Force (IAF) and a civilian mountaineer, Taka Tamut, and two of his associates deputed by the Shi Yomi district administration to guide foot treks in case weather continues to mar the chopper service there.