Grief struck the relatives of Anita Kumar, who was killed along with her four-year-old son in the helicopter crash at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday.
Anita (29) was visiting her husband Arun Kumar (39), a Lieutenant Colonel, at Tawang.
According to P.R. Venkatachalam, retired Lieutenant Colonel and father of Arun Kumar residing on Pudupet Road here, Anita was staying with her parents at Kuniyamuthur in Coimbatore for nearly a year-and-a-half. Her son Rishi Kumar was attending playschool.
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“Arun Kumar was posted at Tawang nearly one-and-a-half years ago. They were going to join my son for the vacation. They took a flight from Coimbatore to Chennai and then to Guwahati on Monday. They reached Guwahati in the evening and stayed there overnight.
“On Tuesday, they went to the Guwahati international airport to take the State government-operated taxi helicopter…, which flies from Tawang to Guwahati and back. As the weather was slightly bad, the helicopter, scheduled to leave at 9.30 a.m., left only at 12.40 p.m.”
Lt. Colonel Arun Kumar was waiting at the Tawang helipad to receive his wife and son when the accident took place “The helicopter caught fire near the helipad in front of my son's eyes. He, along with a few others, opened the rear door and saved two persons. He saw Anita's bag but the fire soon engulfed the entire helicopter and charred them to death. There was no fire extinguisher or fire tenders on the spot. He was helpless,” Mr. Venkatachalam said. The final rites were performed at Tawang on Wednesday as the bodies were charred badly. Arun Kumar identified Anita from the remains of her gold ornaments.
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Mr. Venkatachalam said Anita and Rishi had visited Lt. Colonel Arun Kumar last October in a similar manner and stayed there for a couple of months.