Bengaluru: A few days after they went missing, charred bodies of two Indian pilots Captain Naveen Nagaraj, who hails from Bengaluru, and his trainee pilot Kuldeep Singh, were found from the aircraft debris in Philippines.
The aircraft, a Cessna C-152, lost contact with the Plaridel Airport in Bulacan province during a training sortie and crashed.
The Philippines’ Civil Aviation Airport Authorities (CAAP) and the army later carried out a search operation.
However sources said the search operation began 24 hours after the aircraft crashed in the thick forest. As it was dense uninhabited, the rescue teams used drones and spotted the aircraft debris.
Later the teams entered the forest and reached the crash location.
While Naveen is a resident of Nandini Layout in Bengaluru, he worked as pilot instructor with the Fliteline Aviation School.
Naveen’s parents Nagaraj and Meena flew to the Philippines from Bengaluru as soon as they got the news on Tuesday. They accused the Philippines government of not initiating the search operation immediately after the crash and waited for 24 hours to pass.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board of Philippines is looking into the incident.
