“My boy was brave and always loved challenges,” recalls T. Digamber Singh, a retired BHEL employee. Hardly a month passed since he returned from Bareilly after spending a month with his only son that Mr. Singh last week received information that Wing Commander T. Narsing Bhagat Singh lost his life in a helicopter crash near Ataria in Sitapur in U.P.
“The entire family went and spent a month with him. We returned on June 28 and on July 25, we got call that my son had died in the crash. It was so hard to believe,” says Mr. Digamber Singh. Narsing Bhagat Singh was described by his services as a young and brave air warrior who lost his life while trying to save the lives of hundreds on ground in the helicopter crash. The 40-year-old was in command of an advance light helicopter ‘Dhruv’ that carried two officers and five other IAF personnel. The final rites were performed with full military honour at Air Force Station, Bareilly.
Born and brought up at BHEL Colony in Ramachandrapuram, Bhagat Singh completed his studies from BHEL Higher Secondary School and went to National Defence Academy (NDA), Pune. He joined IAF and was commissioned into the helicopter stream in 1995. Initially he was posted to frontline helicopter units along the Indo-Tiber border in Sikkim where he met Flying Officer, Jaya Rawat and got married, and was blessed with a daughter, Sharanya, in 2005. He was the first to spot the crashed chopper of YSR when it went missing.
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