Udaipur: The body of Lieutenant Abhinav Nagori (25), the young officer from Udaipur was recovered by the rescue team on Friday morning, some 62 hours after the mishap. After completion of formalities and a ceremonial guard of honor at the Naval base in Goa, his body is expected to be flown in to Udaipur by Saturday evening in a naval aircraft. The funeral will be held on Sunday after a procession and guard of honor in consultation with the administration, family members said.
At Goa, Rear Admiral Ravneet Singh, commanding officer of the naval airbase INS Hansa, met Abinav’s father Dharamchand to offer his condolences to the aggrieved family. Speaking to TOI over phone, Dharamchand said “ His untimely death has shattered me but I am proud of him as I walk with my head high for being a martyr’s dad. I am happy that we let him do what he dearly wanted and was destined to do”. He further said “ My little son had radically changed, grown wiser after joining the Navy and he treated me as a friend, philosopher and guide rather than his dad”. The father had to fight his emotions very hard when taken to the hospital to have a last glimpse of his son. “ When I saw him lying there, events of his childhood flashed before my eyes and I lost my control” said Dharamchand literally weeping over the phone. Recollecting strength enough, he further informed that the postmortem would take some time as it would be held in two sessions till Saturday. He would reach Udaipur on Saturday morning while Abhinav’s body would be flown home separately in a naval aircraft.
Abhinav along with two officers, pilot Nikhil Kuldip Joshi and observer Kiran Shekhawat had been in the Navy’s Dornier surveillance aircraft for a routine sortie on Tuesday night when it crashed into the Arabian sea off the Goa coast. Commander Joshi, was rescued by fishermen within hours of the crash while the rescue team had found the body of Lt. Kiran Shekhawat in the fuselage of the crashed aircraft on Thursday evening. Abhinav’s body was found on Friday morning that was taken to the Navy hospital for postmortem. Abhinav’s father on Friday met Vivek Singh, Kiran’s husband and consoled him for the unbearable pain they commonly shared. Her father also an ex-navy officer live in Delhi now, he said.
