BHUBANESWAR: Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Prafulla Mishra died in a tragic helicopter crash at a suburb in Mumbai on Sunday afternoon. Col Mishra had a successful stint in the Indian Army for over 23 years before retiring in 2008. He was 52.
Mishra joined the Artillery Division of the Indian Army after graduating from 76th course of Indian Military Academy (IMA) in June, 1985. Later, Mishra was posted in the Aviation Core where he had flown helicopters for the Indian Army for over two decades, Mishra’s friend, Group Captain (Retd) Atanu Guru said.
Post retirement, Mishra had worked with a couple of domestic airlines before joining Aman Aviation in Mumbai in 2013.
He was flying a 1992 model Robinson R44 Astro copter which crashed, possibly due to fire on-air at around 11.45 am over a hillock in Filter Pada area in Mumbai, Guru said. Mishra, a native of Bhubaneswar, was currently based at Mumbai.
He is survived by his wife Madhumita and two sons Manish and Shashank. His elder son works with an MNC at Mumbai and the younger is a third year student of Electrical Engineering, Col Mishra’s brother Dr Ashish Mishra told ‘Express’ at Bhubaneswar airport.
Dr Ashish flew to Mumbai to bring back the mortal remains of his brother whose last rites will be performed here on Monday.