BERHAMPUR: A pall of gloom descended on Baliapalli in Kabisuryanagar block as soon as the news of the death of Flight Lieutenant Sunit Mohanty reached the village on Thursday. Sunit was on board the ill-fated AN 32 aircraft that had crashed during a routine sortie from Jorhat in Assam to Menchuka in Arunachal Pradesh. The wreckage of the Soviet origin aircraft was found after a long search on Tuesday. On Thursday, the Indian Air Force confirmed that all its personnel on board were killed in the crash.
Sunit’s family members and the villagers are yet to come to terms with the officer’s death. His uncle Ballav Mohanty said Sunit’s death is an irreparable loss for the family. Blaming the Central Government for the tragedy, he said had the search operation been carried out as soon as the aircraft went off the radar, Sunit would probably have been alive.
Ballav said it is not possible for any injured person to survive for so long in the dense forest of Arunachal Pradesh. He demanded a high-level inquiry into the crash. Sunit’s cousin Pratap Mohanty too expressed his annoyance over the authorities’ apathy towards the family. He said so far the family has not been informed of his death.
Sunit’s grand mother Ahalya Mohanty was inconsolable after she heard the news of her beloved’s death. Ahalya said she is proud of Sunit’s service for the country. “Since I came to know that the aircraft had gone missing, I had been praying for Sunit’s safe return,” she said.
“It is difficult to believe that Sunit is no more,” said Rangabati Mohanty, a neighbour. She said the villagers have been offering prayers before the village deity for the pilot’s safe return. Another villager Maheswar Mohanty described Sunit as a smart and charming person who was loved by everyone in the village. The Indian Air Force, in a tweet, had said that ‘none of the 13 persons on board the missing AN-32 aircraft survived’. Sunit was among the eight crew members on board the aircraft.