CHENNAI: The wife of the deputy commandant co-pilot Subash Suresh, who was one of the three crew members on the Indian Coast Guard Dornier that vanished on June 8 has, attributed her mood swings between despair and hope to the outburst on social media.
The family on Tuesday said that the tweet from Deepa Lakshmi, the wife of Subash Suresh, to the Prime Minister’s Office was triggered by a local television channel reporting that the government was questioning the mounting costs involved in the search operations and wished to suspend the search operations.
“How would a family respond to it?,” said Venkatesh, Subash’s uncle.
It was this anxiety that has resulted in the tweet, said Venkatesh. He said the search operation by the Defence Ministry is commendable.
“Nowhere is a submarine being pressed into the search and rescue operations. It is used only during war time. This shows the concern and seriousness of the government in locating the three crew members,” said Venkatesh, who spoke on behalf of the family.
“We are confident that he is alive, as there is no evidence of a wreckage or anything that causes us to lose our hope. We are confident about the skill of our Subash as well as the other two crew members. Subash is a skilled pilot,” said Venkatesh. “We are also God-fearing and believe in miracles. Subash’s mother has not come out of the pooja room or ventured outside,” he added.
Inspector General SP Sharma, Commander, Indian Coast Guard (East), too, said it was natural for any family to respond after their near and dear one has gone missing.
On the search operation, he said the National Institute of Ocean Technology research vessel Sagarnidhi has mapped half of the area.
“We are waiting to hear positive results once the whole area is mapped,” said Sharma.
He said the search and rescue mission is still on with the submarine as well as the sonar vessel still conducting the searches. The air search is also on, he stated.
