Keralite dies in chopper collision

Aug 31, 2012 |

New Delhi / Thiruvananthapuram

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Nine IAF personnel, five of them officers, were killed when the two Mi-17 helicopters were involved in a mid-air collision near Jamnagar, Gujarat, on Thursday.

The pilots had just taken off from the Jamnagar air-base and were heading for the Sarmat range in a training exercise.

One of the victims of the IAF crash was 32-year-old squadron leader Manoj V. Nair who belonged to Old Karakkamandapam in Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram.

According to defence sources, Squadron leader Nair belonged to the Air Force unit in Coimbatore and had just flown to Jamnagar to provide training to helicopter pilots.

He was expected to be in Thiruvananthapuram in the coming days, coinciding with the marriage of his younger brother, Anoop, on September 11.

His father, K. Viswambaran Nair, who too had served in the IAF, and mother Suchetha, have flown to Jamnagar immediately after hearing about the tragedy. Manoj leaves behind his wife Rajalakshmi, who is also a commissioned flying officer, and a four-year old daughter, Saranya.

There are as yet unconfirmed reports of a second Malayali, settled in Bangalore, being among the nine killed in the mishap.

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