The body of a 25-year-old IAF pilot, who was killed along with one of his colleagues when their Sukhoi jet crashed in Assam on May 23, was cremated with full military honours at his ancestral home here today.
The mortal remains of Flight Lieutenant S Achudev was brought here this morning from Thiruvananthapuram in a special IAF aircraft for the final rites.
His parents, sister and close relatives were among those who bid a tearful farewell to him.
Ports Minister Kadanapally Ramachandran visited the grieving parents and consoled them.
Young Air Force officers carried the coffin on their shoulders and paid respects to their colleague.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had paid homage to the late officer and spent some time with the bereaved parents - V P Sahadevan, a retired officer of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) here, and mother Jaishree when the body had been brought to the state capital yesterday.
The parents had gone to the Tezpur Air Force station as soon as they had heard about the mishap and returned on Thursday.
The bodies of Achudev and Squadron Leader D Pankaj were recovered on May 31 from the crash site in a dense forest area near the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.
The aircraft had crashed about 60 km from Tezpur air base after taking off from there on a routine training mission.
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