Coonoor crash: IAF officer's mortal remains reach Odisha, CM pays tribute

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and other dignitaries paid floral tributes to Junior Warrant Officer (JWO) Rana Pratap Das, who was killed in the helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu's Coonoor, as his mortal remains arrived at the Bhubaneswar airport on Saturday morning.

Das, a native of Talcher in Odisha's Angul district, was killed in the helicopter crash on December 8 along with India's first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 11 others.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) officer was given a guard of honour by the personnel of the 120 Infantry Battalion.


State ministers, MLAs and top police officers, including Director-General of Police Abhay, were among those who paid floral tributes to JWO Das at the airport.

The body was then taken to his native village of Krushnachandrapur in Kundala panchayat area in Talcher.

Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, on the direction of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, is preparing a special crematorium at the village for his last rites, which will be held with full military and state honours.

People of JWO Das' native village have been demanding that the road between Talabeda and Krishnachandrapur be named after him.

JWO Das, 34, joined the IAF in June 2006 and was posted at Coimbatore. He got married to Dr Sibangi, a dentist, in 2017, and the couple has a 19-month-old son.