THRISSUR: An officer from Kerala was among the 13 persons, including Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, who lost their lives in the Indian Air Force helicopter crash at Coonoor near Ooty in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.Junior Warrant Officer Pradeep Arakkal, 37, a native of Ponnukkara in Thrissur -- who was serving at the Sulur air base in Coimbatore -- had boarded the helicopter as a flight gunner, a source said.
Pradeep is the son of Radhakrishnan and Kumari of Arakkal House. He joined the Air Force in 2004. He is married to Sreelakshmi, and the couple has two children -- Dajshan Dev, 5, and Deva Prayag, 2. The family received information about the tragedy around 8pm, and his brother Prasad left for Coimbatore immediately.
Pradeep had served various units of the Air Force and had participated in the anti-naxal operation in Chhattisgarh. He was also involved in flood rescue operations, in Uttarakhand in 2013 and in Kerala in 2018. He had visited the family a week ago to celebrate the birthday of his son and had accompanied his father to a hospital for treatment. The tragedy occurred four days after he resumed duty.
A devastated family also said that Pradeep had rang up his mother in the morning on Wednesday, sharing the joy of receiving the rare opportunity to accompany the Chief of Defence Staff.
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