Belagavi: Wing Commander Hanumanth Rao Sarathi, who was killed in a plane crash between Sukhoi-30MKI and Mirage-2000 aircraft in Madhya Pradesh, was cremated with full military honours. The mortal remains of Wing Commander were brought to the Belagavi airport at 12.30 pm on Sunday by a special army flight.
BJP MLA Anil Benake, District Collector Nitesh Patil, Belagavi City Police Commissioner Dr MB Boralingaiah, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer HV Darshan and other dignitaries paid their last respects to the departed soul. A funeral procession was taken out at Benakanahalli village and the cremation took place as per the religious rites of the Hindu Kuruba Community with military honours at Benakanahalli cemetery. Wing Commander Hanuman Rao's wife was handed over the national flag and cap by Air Force personnel.
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In the crash, Wing Commander Sarathi lost his life while two other pilots ejected safely. Sarath i's body was flown in by a special IAF plane and it will be later taken to his home in Ganeshpur. A pall of gloom descended on the residence of Wing Commander Sarathi, an instructor at Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TAC-DE) in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior.
The family members and relatives were inconsolable with his untimely demise. The 35-year-old pilot is survived by wife, a three-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. The IAF officer comes from a defence background. Sarathi's father Revansiddappa Sarathi is a retired honorary captain and brother Praveen Sarathi is a serving Group Captain.
On Saturday, an aviation expert said that it was the first Mirage 2000 as well as Sukhoi-30MKI that the IAF lost in a mid-air collision. The SU-30MKI is a twin-seater combat jet, while the Mirage 2000, manufactured by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, is a single-seater aircraft. Both the jets took off from the Gwalior Air Force station.
The base has squadrons of both Sukhoi-30MKIs and the Mirage 2000 jets. Aviation historian Anchit Gupta tweeted that mid-air collisions (MAC) are not that uncommon and at least 64 aircraft and 39 pilots have been lost in mid-air collisions in the last 70 years in India. He said the country lost 11 Mig-21 aircraft in mid-air collisions while the numbers for the Hunter and Jaguar aircraft are eight and five respectively.
