Wing Commander Deepak Sathe (retd.), pilotin-command of the Air India Express plane that crashed in Kerala last week, was cremated on Tuesday with state honours.
Hundreds of mourners lined up the road as the funeral procession started from his residence in Mumbai’s Chandivli area and concluded at Vikhroli’s Tagore Nagar crematorium, where the last rites were performed.
The Maharashtra government accorded a state funeral to the pilot and said that his life shall inspire young pilots. The flight from Dubai had 190 passengers on it. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune, Sathe was one of the most decorated pilots in the country and served as a fighter pilot during his time in the Air Force. He had also won the Sword of Honour, one of the most prestigious military awards, at the Hyderabad Air Force Academy.
Sathe, along with his co-pilot and first officer Captain Akhilesh Kumar, died in the horrifying plane crash at Kozhikode airport in Kerala on 7 August. The AI Express aircraft was part of the government’s Vande Bharat Mission from Dubai to Kerala. According to reports, the slippery tabletop runway caused the plane to skid off and fall into the 35-ft-deep gorge, splitting into two pieces.
Despite the crash, Captain Sathe has been hailed by several people for saving numerous lives as the Commander of the ill-fated Dubai-Kozhikode flight.