Naval divers on Thursday evening located the 16-metre-long fuselage section of the Dornier aircraft that crashed into the sea on the night of March 24 and recovered the body of Lieutenant Kiran Shekhawat, Navy officials said. The body has been taken to Goa.
Earlier in the day, naval hydrographic vessel INS Makar’s side-scan sonar detected a large metallic object, believed to be that of the crashed Dornier. Subsequently, divers from another ship, INS Matanga, began search for the wreckage.
The aircraft was on a routine training mission with three personnel on board when it lost contact with air traffic control 25 nautical miles off the Goa coast.
Commander Nikhil Joshi ejected from the aircraft and was rescued by a fishing boat. Co-pilot Sub-Lieutenant Abhinav Nagori is still missing.
Lieutenant Kiran Shekhawat was part of the women’s contingent that marched down Rajpath during the Republic Day celebrations in January. She is married to a Naval officer.
Sea of Risk: Recent accidents in the Indian Navy
Mumbai
- INS Betwa (F39) - January, 2014 (Naval base)
- > INS Sindhuratna - February, 2014 (Mumbai coast)
- > INS Kolkata - March, 2014 (Mazagon Dock)
- > INS Ganga - May, 2014 (Naval Dockyard)
Visakhapatnam
- INS Airavat (L24) - February 03, 2014
- > INS Kora - October, 2014 (Visakhapatnam coast)
- > Torpedo Vessel TRV 72 - March, 2014 (South off Visakhapatnam)
