Junior warrant officer A. Pradeep, who was killed within the helicopter crash at Coonoor, was cremated with full State and army honours on the compound of his home at Ponnukkara on Saturday.
Pradeep’s eight-year-old son Dakshan Dev lit the funeral pyre. Air Power personnel chanted slogans Warrant Officer Pradeep Amar Rahe. Pradeep’s uniform and the nationwide flag that coated the coffin that carried his mortal stays had been handed over to his spouse Sreelakshmi earlier than the physique was taken to the pyre.
All preparations for the funeral had been performed below the management of the Air Power and a 70-member workforce gave the guard of honour to him.
Pradeep, son of Radhakrishnan and Kumari, was among the many 13, together with Chief of the Defence Workers Normal Bipin Rawat, killed when an Indian Air Power helicopter crashed in Coonoor on December 8.
Union Minister V. Muraleedharan and Thrissur MP T.N. Prathapan accompanied the ambulance carrying the physique from Coimbatore to Thrissur. The mortal stays of Pradeep had been obtained on the State border Walayar by Ministers Okay. Rajan, Okay. Radhakrishan, and Okay. Krishnankutty. District Collector Haritha V. Kumar obtained the physique on the district border at Vaniampara. Folks ready on each side of the Nationwide Freeway paid floral tributes to the soldier.
Hundreds of individuals, together with Ministers, elected representatives, army and paramilitary forces, law enforcement officials, cultural leaders, academics, pals, and native individuals paid homage to Pradeep when his physique was stored from 2.45 p.m. to three.45 p.m. at Authorities Vocational Larger Secondary College, Puthur, the place he studied. The physique was then shifted in a army automobile to his home. Apart from Mr. Rajan, Mr. Radhakrishan, Mr. Krishnankutty, Minister R. Bindu accompanied the army automobile alongside the three km.
Pradeep, son of day by day wage staff, had come from a humble background. It was his ambition to hitch the Air Power, his pals recalled. He married Sreelakshmi 9 years in the past and have two kids aged eight and two.
Pradeep joined the Air Power in 2004. He was later chosen as air crew. He participated in lots of missions together with that in opposition to Maoists in Chhattisgarh.
Kerala had witnessed his take care of the land in the course of the devastating floods that ravaged the State in 2018. He volunteered to be a part of an Air Power rescue mission from Coimbatore to the flood-hit areas.
Pradeep’s father, who’s on ventilator following a important lung ailment, was knowledgeable about his son’s demise solely an hour earlier than the cremation.
Even after becoming a member of the Air Power, Pradeep stored shut contact along with his village and pals. He was an energetic member of the alumni affiliation of his faculty.
Pradeep had come on go away two weeks in the past in reference to the therapy of his father. Earlier than he went again, he had promised his pals to return again for the village temple pageant.
The deadly accident took his life simply 4 days after he joined obligation after go away. In accordance with his family members, he was planning to take voluntary retirement from service after two years.
