The wreckage of the missing AN-32 was located by a Mi-17 helicopter on June 11, following which a team of 15 mountaineers was dropped near the crash site the next day

The operation to retrieve the bodies of the 13 air warriors on board the ill-fated AN-32 aircraft that crashed in Arunachal Pradesh remained suspended, even as a ground team comprising Garud commandos, civilian porters and hunters was on its way to the site on foot, IAF officials said.

Shillong-based IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Ratnakar Singh said the first segment of this trekking party, which left on June 17, is likely to reach the accident site on Tuesday.

"Due to bad weather and clouds, we could not undertake the retrieval operation today as well. Our helicopters were on the lookout for a window to fly but could not. But we are leaving no stone upturned in our attempts to retrieve the bodies," he said.

Helicopters, including Mi-17s, Cheetah and ALH have been unable to approach the site during the last three days because of inclement weather in the valleys and cloud cover over the crash site, officials said.

"Retrieval operations require the steep mountain sides to be visible for the helicopters to safely hover close to the crash site and for operating crew to be able to see the personnel on the ground," Singh said.

A ground team comprising Garud commandos of the IAF, Special Forces of the Indian Army, civilian porters and hunters was already on its way to the accident site on foot, he added.

"No efforts are being spared by the IAF personnel to ensure that the mortal remains of their brothers in arms are retrieved at the earliest. The Army and Arunachal Pradesh state administration have all along provided unflinching support," the IAF spokesperson said.

The wreckage of the missing AN-32 was located by a Mi-17 helicopter on June 11, following which a team of 15 mountaineers was dropped near the crash site the next day.

Later, three more mountaineers joined the rescue team, officials said, adding, that the IAF has actively coordinated with state administration at all levels.

A rescue team had recovered the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) of the Russian-origin aircraft at the crash site Friday.

The Indian Air Force Thursday said all the 13 people on board the aircraft had died.

German sportswear giant Adidas on June 19 lost a legal battle to trademark its "three stripe" motif in the EU, as a court ruled the design was not distinctive enough to deserve protection.

The three parallel stripes seen adorning everything from running shoes to sports bags and the sleeves of t-shirts are "an ordinary figurative mark", the General Court of the European Union ruled.

The court, the EU's second highest tribunal, upheld a 2016 ruling by the bloc's intellectual property regulator cancelling the registration of the three-stripe design as a trademark following a challenge by a Belgian shoe company.

"The General Court of the EU confirms the invalidity of the Adidas EU trade mark which consists of three parallel stripes applied in any direction," the court said in a statement.

In largest office space deal, Blackstone pays Rs 2,500 cr to Radius for half of One BKC

Adidas had not proved the motif had acquired a "distinctive character" throughout the 28 countries of the bloc that would qualify for legal protection, the court said. "The mark is not a pattern mark composed of a series of regularly repetitive elements, but an ordinary figurative mark," the court said.

The ruling is the latest round in a long legal tussle between Adidas and Belgian rival Shoe Branding Europe, which as far back as 2009 won trademark status for a two-stripe design, triggering court action from the German firm.

Adidas said in a statement it was "disappointed" with the ruling, but said it only applied to one specific version of the motif -- three thick black lines in parallel separated by two thinner white lines.

The ruling "does not impact on the broad scope of protection that Adidas has on its well-known 3-Stripe mark in various forms in Europe," the company said.