The mortal remains of three Kerala IAF officers, who lost their lives in the AN-32 aircraft crash in Arunachal Pradesh, were brought in a special aircraft from the Jorhat air base in Assam to Trivandrum International Airport on Friday early morning.
Squadron leader Hariharan Vinod from Thrissur, Sergeant Anoop Kumar from Kollam and Corporal Sharin NK from Kannur, had died in the air crash. The aircraft had gone missing on June 3 after it took off from Jorhat in Assam. It was going to Menchuka in Arunachal Pradesh.
Air Marshal B Suresh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Air Command (SAC) was at the Trivandrum air base and received the mortal remains of Sergeant Anoop Kumar. The AOC-in-C laid a wreath and paid homage to the deceased officer.
The mortal remains of Sergeant Anoop Kumar is being kept at his alma mater, Yeroor Higher Secondary School for the public to pay homage. Following that, a funeral will be conducted at his home town at Alanchery in Kollam district. The mortal remains of Corporal Sharin were flown to Kannur for funerary rites.
The mortal remains of Squadron Leader Hariharan Vinod was further taken to Sulur at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu where his family resides. He was received by the Air Officer Commanding AF Station Sulur. Vinod was the navigator of the AN-32 that crashed in Arunachal Pradesh. A native of Thrissur in Kerala, he was also an Electronics & Electrical engineer from Anna University in Chennai. He is survived by his wife, Rugmani. The final rites will be conducted with full military honours in Coimbatore.
Final rites of the three deceased officers will be held with due military honours.
26-year-old Corporal Sharin NK, resident of Ancharakandi, is survived by his wife, who is eight months pregnant. 34-year-old Sergeant Anoop, who joined Air Force more than a decade ago, is survived by his wife and seven-month-old son.
The transport aircraft took off on June 3 at 12.25 pm from the Jorhat airbase in Assam for the Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground in Arunachal Pradesh's Shi-Yomi district, which borders China. A total of 13 officials were present in the air craft that crashed on June 3. According to Indian Air Force, nobody survived the crash. The remains of the crash were found after about a week in northern Arunachal Pradesh at an approximate elevation of 12,000 feet.