During World War II, the allied forces and the Chinese Government opened up an air route from Kunming in China's Yunnan Province to Dinjan in the Indian state of Assam.

As planes had to fly over the hump-like Himalayan peaks, it became known as the Hump route. And it proved vital in transporting material for the Chinese people's War of Resistance Against Japanese Invasion (1937-45) and critical to China's contribution to the global war against fascism.

But the route exacted a heavy human toll.

More than 1,500 Chinese and US pilots died while trying to navigate "the roof of the world." Their planes' wreckage litters China's Yunnan Province, Guangxi Zhuang and Tibet autonomous regions, as well as Viet Nam, Myanmar and India.

The first airplane wreckage on the Hump route was found in Tibet in the late 1940s. The plane had crashed into Pengbo Gola Mountain in Lhunzhub County late one night.

The red lights on the wings of the plummeting aircraft scared the local Tibetans, residents recalled. Many children cried at the sight.

In 1994, the frozen remains of an air freighter were found on the Rugo Glacier in Yi'ong. Covered by snow and ice for years, the bodies of the crew were still largely intact and some of their belongings were found.

The wrecks of two American aircraft were also found during searches in Gaixibi near Dannian Township in Mainling County and Zhamna Pasture near Lilung Township in Mainling County.

They were discovered at elevations of over 5,500 metres, 110 kilometres apart.

In August 1999, local hunters Gongbo, Wanggyi and Dawa found yet another wreck near the Dannian township. Officers with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Nyingchi Military Area rushed to the spot and took videos and pictures before submitting the material to the department concerned.

In May 2000, I led a survey team and trekked into Dannian town in Nyingchi to identify the aircraft.

It took us four days, even with jeeps and horses. At Meidobai Mountain which towers over Zhamna Pasture with an elevation of 5,500 metres, we discovered the wreckage of an aircraft.

Despite fatigue and hunger, we were thrilled, especially when we heard stories about the crash from local people.

In all, we found 112 fragments of skeletons of the victims.

Differences of opinion

We lost no time in informing the Americans of our discovery and showed them our recorded materials and assessments of the crash. We joined forces, but differed in our opinions of the site.

For example, we held that the aircraft crashed while on its way to its destination because it crashed into Meidobai Mountain while the aircraft was flying in a northeasterly direction, namely from Dinjan to Kunming. In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, local people found cloth bolts and silver dollars, plus articles for daily use, in the wreckage in the Langgung Zhamna Pasture. All the evidence suggested that the aircraft was transporting materials to Kunming.

The Americans, however, believed there were no signs of fire in the area where the aircraft crashed so it must have been on its way back to India after completing its mission. It lost its way over the Himalayas and was forced to use up all its fuel before finally attempting a crash landing. The US records indicated that the aircraft had unloaded its cargo in Kunming.

They also believed that the aircraft must have crashed at a speed of 200 kilometres per hour. Even though it might not have smashed to smithereens, the crew's bodies would have been badly damaged.

Local Tibetans in their 70s or 80s told us that they saw the intact bodies of the crew. The witnesses included Yuzin, 75, who was the only woman who had gone to the crash site at the time.

Joint search

It took two years' preparation before we Chinese and the Americans set off again, in late August last year, for the Gaixibi area near Dannian township in Mainling County.

Thanks to the bad weather, there were few visitors to the site, which was well preserved. We found the skeletons of the crew, their belongings and other items that identified them.

Unlike Gaixibi, where the wreckage was undisturbed, the remains at Langgung had been raided. Many went to the site where the aircraft was found and souvenired pieces of the debris.

We were more interested in the Gaixibi site, but the Americans insisted that we begin with Langgung.

Their experts believed the aircraft at Langgung was an American plane charged with flying the Hump route, and still had complete records of the four men on board.

However, they had no evidence to show the aircraft lost in Gaixibi was American.

Fate intervened when a 100-metre segment of road from Lilung to Naiba that would lead us to Langgung caved in during a downpour. A large wooden bridge over the river was swept away. Many tried to persuade us to go back and come again after the rainy season. However, we left for Lilung, in two teams, one on the morning of August 23 and the other on the evening of August 24.

When we got to the landslide, we had two truckloads of material and faced the challenge of carrying them over the gap. But as we were struggling with the problem, a group of PLA men stationed in the locale came to our rescue.

As the PLA soldiers carried our material on their shoulders and walked with difficulty over the landslide, Daniel Rose, leader of the American team, asked me whether they had to be paid.

When told this was not necessary, he said: "I have been to more than 40 countries to search for wreckage of US aircraft, including Viet Nam, Laos and North Korea. We also sought help from their troops in some cases and it was very common for them to discuss payment before starting the work."

The two groups finally met in Naiba Village of Lilung Township at 5 pm on August 25. The joint search team, composed of nearly 40 search members and 55 horses, set out for Gyiasang, our next stop.

After Gyiasang, we continued our journey and came to where the bridge had been swept away. The water was receding, but it was still formidable enough to force us back. Rose and I stood on the bridge base, wondering whether we should send some of the team back.

"Fourteen of us came from the States, which is so far away," he said sadly. "We need to do something for the lost heroes."

At that moment, one of the Americans, Dan, who used to be a ground force officer and a mountaineering leader, volunteered to swim across the river with an aid.

He stripped off his heavy coats and, with a rope tied around his waist, dived into the icy water. Rose and I grasped the other end of the rope with all our strength.

Later, Rose tried to cross the river on a horse. Both men finally reached the other side of the river, shivering with cold. The pair fixed the rope around the bridge base and the rope bridge was finally built over the rapids.

All the members of the American party crawled along the rope and crossed the river, and we followed suit.

That afternoon and the following morning, we managed to haul across all of the party and their luggage (except for one bag that fell into the river). All the horses except one had to swim across the river.

Our discoveries at Lunggang prolonged our stay of seven to 20 days. Crossing the river consumed three days.

We left at seven or eight in the morning and trekked all day long until seven or eight in the evening when we reached our camping ground.

Altogether, we found 112 bone fragments from the victims and some of their belongings.

The Americans were excited and, in the face of this success, they seemed to lose interest in the Gaixibi site.

In the end, however, they sent a team of four there to take pictures and draw sketches.

A grand ceremony was held on September 28 in the Lhasa Hotel to hand over the recovered remains, contained in a box wrapped in a white piece of cloth.

In his speech, Ju Jianhua, leader of the Chinese search team and deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Tibet Autonomous Region, said the joint search had been a great success and would deepen the friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.

In his speech, Rose said the joint efforts of the Chinese and American search teams made it possible for him and his colleagues to bring these lost souls home.

He said with great confidence that Sino-American ties would strengthen, based on the work so far.

The author is director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Tibet Autonomous Region, who is in charge of the Sino-US Joint Search for Hump Aircraft Wreckage. This is an excerpt from a story originally published in the January issue of China's Tibet magazine.

(China Daily February 9, 2003)