Pilot of missing Sukhoi laid to rest at Tezpur airbase
GUWAHATI: The last rites of squadron leader D Pankaj(36), one of the two pilots who died in the Sukhoi-30 crash, were performed on Thursday at the Tezpur airbase, from where his flight took off on May 23 before it went missing. He is survived by his wife and a five-year-old daughter.
IAF and Army personnel at Tezpur also paid their respects to the other pilot who was on board the Sukhoi, flight lieutenant S Achudev (26), at Tezpur before sending his body to his home town of Calicut in Kerala. The Kerala government will pay its last respects to Achudev on Friday.
The pilots' bodies were retrieved on Wednesday, at least five days after the wreckage of the jet was found. The pilots could not initiate ejection from the plane's cockpit before the crash that occurred, 60 km from the Tezpur Airbase, an IAF source said.
A technical snag is believed to have stopped them from initiating ejection, suggesting they went down with the plane. They met with fatal injuries and succumbed to them. The IAF has ordered a court of inquiry to investigate the cause of the accident.
IAF and Army personnel at Tezpur also paid their respects to the other pilot who was on board the Sukhoi, flight lieutenant S Achudev (26), at Tezpur before sending his body to his home town of Calicut in Kerala. The Kerala government will pay its last respects to Achudev on Friday.
The pilots' bodies were retrieved on Wednesday, at least five days after the wreckage of the jet was found. The pilots could not initiate ejection from the plane's cockpit before the crash that occurred, 60 km from the Tezpur Airbase, an IAF source said.
A technical snag is believed to have stopped them from initiating ejection, suggesting they went down with the plane. They met with fatal injuries and succumbed to them. The IAF has ordered a court of inquiry to investigate the cause of the accident.
Comments
Post a Comment