Pathankot Helicopter Crash: Pilot's grieving father appeals to President to retrieve his son’s body
Forty-five days after his pilot son's helicopter crashedinto a reservoir near Punjab's Pathankot, the grieving father reached out toPresident and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces Ram Nath Kovind with anemotional appeal to enhance efforts for recovery of the body.
Harish Joshi is the father of Capt Jayant Joshi, co-pilotof the Rudra WSI (Weapon System Integrated) helicopter that crashed on August 3into Ranjit Sagar Lake (the dam reservoir on Ravi river), approximately 30 kmsnorth by northeast of Pathankot. On Sunday, he made an appeal to the Presidenton Twitter through the account of his other son, Neel.
Before Harish Joshi took to twitter, Neel had beenregularly tweeting and tagging Defence Minister's Office and Prime Minister'sOffice since August 9.
As many as 12 days after the crash, i.e. on August 15,body of the helicopter pilot, Lt Col A.S. Batth, was recovered from thereservoir after the Indian Air Force had brought heavy equipment fromVisakhapatnam for speeding up the underwater search operations that alsoinvolved the Army, Navy, the National Disaster Response Force, the damauthorities, along with the local police and district authorities.
Giving due credit to the Army and Navy for retrieving thebody of the pilot, helicopter wreckage and even the black box, Joshi said:"We really appreciate the rigourous efforts by brave Navy personnel.Unfortunately, there is still no news about our brave pilot son."
"The Blackbox helped know the location of the firstimpact, increasing the possibility of discovery of my son, who, unfortunately,remains under water."
He also noted his wife, Col Jiwan Tara has been servingthe Army for almost 40 years as an MNS officer and attended to thousands of illand wounded soldiers. "My son was inspired by her to join the army,"he said in the Twitter thread that went viral as people responded withappreciation, sympathy, and solidarity with the grieving family.
Joshi further said: "We continue to hope and trustthe defence forces' capability and efforts to maintain the rigour of search, sothat we, the parents, get our son back."
He then requested the President to "put in apersonal word to the defence forces to further enhance their efforts and ifneed be, quickly procure/import high end equipment to help in theirsearch".
"For a second generation army recruit, a trainedcommando, an attack pilot and a brave soldier, this is all we ask of you, andis the least the brave soldier and his grieved parents deserve," he said.
At the end of the Twitter thread, apart from RashtrapatiBhavan, Joshi tagged official Twitter handles of the Army's AdditionalDirectorate General of Public Information, the Defence Ministry, the PrimeMinister's Office, and the Army's Western Command.