Nirmala meets pilots’ families
GHAZIABAD: Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman Tuesday visited the families of two Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots, who were killed in the Mirage 2000 crash in Bengaluru on February 1.
The minister visited the family of squadron leader Siddhartha Negi in Dehradun and later arrived in Ghaziabad to meet the family of squadron leader Samir Abrol at his residence in Ghaziabad’s Gandhi Nagar locality.
Both Samir, 32, and Siddhartha, 31, were on a test flight in their upgraded Mirage 2000 fighter jet when it crashed during take-off at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) airstrip on February 1.
The two pilots were attached to the aircraft and systems testing establishment. The French origin trainer aircraft, manufac- tured by Dassault Aviation, was on an acceptance sortie after being upgraded at HAL. The IAF has ordered a probe.
“The minister visited our family to offer condolences. There was no conversation beyond this. The air force knows better about the crash and we trust them to do justice to us. The inquiry into the crash will take its own time and we will be patient,” Sushant, Samir’s brother, said. The minister, during her 30-minute stay in Ghaziabad, met Garima, Samir’s wife.
Samir’s family had earlier said that off all the aircraft Samir had flown, he loved flying the Mirage 2000 the most. The Mirage was first inducted into IAF in 1984.