Missing plane: Families hope for return
HYDERABAD: The scene at the house of Pati Nagendra, one of the 29 missing from an Indian Air Force plane on July 22, is quite gloomy as his wife, surrounded by their relatives trying to console her, anticipates his safe return.
Their two sons — Sai Praneeth, 6, and Nihar, 3, — couldn’t understand what was going on with politicians and mediapersons thronging their house in Lakshminagar, Visakhapatnam.
Thirty-four-year-old Nagendra, a fitter in the Naval Armament Depot (NAD) in Visakhapatnam, has been missing along with seven others from the city.
“Nothing will happen to my husband. I am confident he will return safely,” said Purnima as she broke down on seeing Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu who visited the family on Saturday morning.
Prakash Rao, Nagendra’s father, told Naidu that his son had called his wife on July 21 night from Chennai and told her that he would be leaving for Port Blair for a couple of days. “We received the call (that his son is missing) from the NAD office only on Friday evening,” Rao said.
Another missing is Nammi Chinna Rao, 55, — a tradesman mate at NAD. He last contacted his family on Friday morning.
“Around 4 pm, we got the call from the authorities that there is no trace of my father as the flight is missing,” his son told the CM at their house in Buchireddypalem, Nellore district.
According to NAD officials, their employees have been accompanying IAF authorities to military bases in Port Blair for taking up technical works.
Other missing Telugu workers are Ravada Vara Prasad Babu, 32, Gantla Srinivas Rao, 35, and draftsman B Samba Murthy.