Dehradun, Friday the 1st of February was a black-day in the history of the Indian Air Force. The Airforce confirmed that two of its senior pilots were killed when their French-built Mirage 2000 aircraft crashed today morning, minutes after taking off from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) runway, in Bengaluru’s eastern suburb.
The pilots of the ill-fated Mirage 2000 fighter jet aircraft were identified as Squadron Leader Sameer Abrol from Ghaziabad and Squadron Leader Siddarth Negi from Dehradun.
As the news of the sad demise of Squadron Leader Siddarth Negi reached his hometown, a pall of gloom hung heavy. Siddarth was born and brought up in Dehradun and was a resident of Dhartawala, Panditwari near Vasant Vihar. Siddarth’s father Shri. Balbir Singh Negi retired from the CBCID , was presently working in Graphic Era University, while his mother was a homemaker. Siddharth has a younger sibling, a sister who is married. Naveen Bist, Siddharth’s neighbor spoke to Newspost at length and told us how life had been cut short for the promising young man, “Today is his birthday and we got the news of his demise, we are all aggrieved and lost for words. He was a student of Seven Oaks School. Siddharth had been married for two and a half year’s. His wife works in the Air Force too.” Naveen ji tells us.
Squadron Leader Siddarth Negi was commissioned in June 2009 while his colleague Sameer Abrol from Ghaziabad belonged to the 2008 batch.
Manufactured by Dassault Aviation, the single-engine jet fighter aircraft was on a test flight after an upgrade carried out by HAL that ended in a lethal crash aat 10:30 a.m. Both Sameer and Siddarth were part of Aircraft and System Testing Establishment in Bengaluru.
Within minutes of the crash, the ghastly visuals of smoke, fire and choppers hovering over the crash site went viral. Witnesses in the vicinity shared images and video clips on all social media platforms.
Siddharth’s family left for Bengaluru today. According to sources, the last rites will be held in Kalhally crematorium tomorrow morning at 10a.m.
