The last rites of Wing Commander Hanumantrao Sarathi, who died in a mid-air collision of Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets, were performed with defence and administrative honours at Benakanahalli in Belagavi taluk in Karnataka on Sunday evening.
The IAF officials brought the mortal remains of Sarathi in a special plane which reached Belagavi at around 12.30pm on Sunday.
Hundreds, including army officials, IAF, defence personnel and elected representatives, paid their last respects to the departed pilot.
Also Read: IAF’s Mirage-2000 pilot dead in crash; two Sukhoi-30 pilots eject safely | 10 updates
Two IAF fighter aircraft– Sukhoi-30 and Mirage-2000– crashed in the Pahadgarh area of Morena in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday during a routine training exercise, killing one pilot.
While the two pilots of the Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft ejected safely, Wing Commander Sarathi, who was piloting Mirage-2000, lost his life in the tragic accident.
Born on October 28, 1987, Sarathi completed his schooling at Kendriya Vidyalaya in Belagavi and joined National Defence Academy where he excelled with a gold medal and joined IAF in 2009.
The 35-year-old pilot is survived by his wife, a three-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son.
The IAF officer comes from a defence background. Sarathi’s elder brother Praveen Sarathi is a Group Captain and a pilot in IAF while his father Revansiddaiah Sarathi retired as the Group Captain in the Army.
Also Read: IAF Mirage-2000 jet crash in Madhya Pradesh: 5 things to know about aircraft
On Saturday night, former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, Belagavi Rural Congress MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar visited met with the family members at their house and condoled the death of their son.
The crash has once again turned the spotlight on India’s longest-serving fighter plane, its safety record and the IAF’s plans to replace the ageing jets with newer ones in the coming years. A probe was launched to examine if a mid-air collision led to the crash. This is the fifth crash involving a Bison jet this year. The Bison is the latest variant of Mig-21 in IAF service. IAF operates four squadrons of MiG-21 Bison aircraft — a squadron has 16 to 18 fighter jets.
