The somber ceremony was held with full military honors
DGP Ashok Kumar pays homage to the deceased crew along with a Coast Guard officer.
Chennai: The mortal remains of Deputy Commandant Vidyasagar, Deputy Commandant M.K. Soni, co- pilot & navigator Deputy Commandant Subash Suresh of the ill fated Coast Guard Dornier CG-791, were finally handed over to their bereaved family members at the Coast Guard Air Station on Tuesday.
B. Venkatesh, cousin of Dy Commandant Subash Suresh, said, “On Saturday we were informed that the remains did belong to the crew, but it was a hardly a surprise for us. We have been battling this for the past two months and as the days went by, hope started fading. We now look at Suresh’s photographs and his honour makes us proud every moment. Like Abdul Kalam he too gave up his life doing what he was most passionate about and we will always remain extremely proud of him,” said Venkatesh.
He also applauded the efforts undertaken for the massive search operations which finally brought a closure to the operation. A wreath laying ceremony was organised to pay last respects to the deceased aircrew of Coast Guard Dornier, which crashed into the sea on the night of June 8, 2015. This was held at the Coast Guard air station on Tuesday.
The somber ceremony was held with full military honors and inspector general S.P. Sharma PTM, Lt Gen Jagbir Singh, General Officer Commanding, Dakshin Bharat laid the wreath with guard in attendance.
Wreaths were also laid on behalf of the defence minister, minister of finance & PWD of Tamil Nadu, while minister O. Panneerselvam laid a wreath on behalf of the Government of Tamil Nadu. He spoke to the family members and expressed his grief that government could not bring forth a positive result that the families were expecting.
“A couple of days earlier we informed the family members that the Coast Guard will be paying its last homage to the crew and they agreed to come for the ceremony.
“We also acknowledge the sustained efforts put in by the Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Coastal Security Group of TN and all the others who were involved in locating and recovering the ill-fated air wreckage” said S.P. Sharma.
“We are all deeply saddened, but life moves on and we will continue to safeguard the maritime zones of India,” he added. He also informed that the decoding of the black box (which suffered considerable damage due to high water column pressure) was done and given to the board of inquiry. Further, both the engines (which also suffered damages) have been sent to HAL for analysis.
Meanwhile, CM J. Jayalalithaa has invited the family members of the deceased to her residence to hand over the of ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh to each of the family members.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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