BANGALORE, APRIL 17. Film actress Soundarya and three others were killed when the private four-seat Cessna 180 aircraft in which they were travelling crashed soon after takeoff from the Jakkur airfield on the outskirts of Bangalore today.
Ramesh Kadam, secretary, Hindu Jagrana Vedike, Soundarya's brother, Amarnath, and the pilot, John Philip, are the other victims. The bodies, which were burnt beyond recognition, were taken to Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital.
The 32-year-old actress was on her way to Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Telugu Desam Party. She campaigned in the Varthur Assembly Constituency, near here, on Friday.
The aircraft took off at 11.05 a.m. and turned in a westerly direction before crashing on the campus of the Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra of the University of Agricultural Sciences. It had reached only a height of 100 feet before it crashed and burst into flames. B.N. Ganapathi, one of the two persons working on the experimental fields of the university, who rushed to the aircraft to save the occupants, said the plane wobbled before the crash. He suffered burns and was taken to hospital.
The debris of the aircraft which crashed near Bangalore on Saturday killing actress Soundarya and three others. - Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
Manufactured in 1955, the aircraft belonged to Agni Aviation, a private company based at Jakkur. It was given the airworthiness certificate in December. Officials of Agni Aviation said the aircraft was owned by an information technology company in Pondicherry before being sold to it 18 months ago. The aviation company had flown it for 110 hours. The company offers small aircraft and helicopters for chartered flights and adventure sports. It was involved in the cloud-seeding operations, Project Varuna, taken up by the Karnataka Government last year.
The chief executive officer of the company, Arvind Sharma, said the Cessna was chartered by a person in Hyderabad for the election campaign.
A large crowd gathered at the scene of the crash. Police and firemen struggled to keep them at a safe distance. Soundarya's husband, another of her brothers, and her sister-in-law were among the first to reach the site.
The Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, the Union Minister, Arun Jaitley, the Karnataka Minister for Urban Development, D.K. Shivakumar, and the BJP State unit president, H.N. Ananthkumar, rushed to the spot. The Director-General of Police, T. Madiyal, and the City Police Commissioner, S. Mariswamy, were present.
Mr. Madiyal said: "The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation will conduct the mandatory inquiry and the bodies will be handed over to the relatives after the inquest." Two local DGCA officials visited the crash site and the Agni Aviation office.
Mr. Krishna said that "it is a very unfortunate event ... we have lost a talented actress who was popular both in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh." Mr. Jaitley said: "It is tragic that all four were young and the actress was actively involved in the election campaign ... while Soundarya was busy addressing election meetings, Amarnath was looking after media relations; Kadam was a popular BJP leader."
Mr. Krishna later ordered an investigation into the crash, according to the Karnataka Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education, B.K. Chandrashekar.
Soundarya was later cremated here.
Ramesh Kadam, secretary, Hindu Jagrana Vedike, Soundarya's brother, Amarnath, and the pilot, John Philip, are the other victims. The bodies, which were burnt beyond recognition, were taken to Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital.
The 32-year-old actress was on her way to Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Telugu Desam Party. She campaigned in the Varthur Assembly Constituency, near here, on Friday.
The aircraft took off at 11.05 a.m. and turned in a westerly direction before crashing on the campus of the Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra of the University of Agricultural Sciences. It had reached only a height of 100 feet before it crashed and burst into flames. B.N. Ganapathi, one of the two persons working on the experimental fields of the university, who rushed to the aircraft to save the occupants, said the plane wobbled before the crash. He suffered burns and was taken to hospital.
The debris of the aircraft which crashed near Bangalore on Saturday killing actress Soundarya and three others. - Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
Manufactured in 1955, the aircraft belonged to Agni Aviation, a private company based at Jakkur. It was given the airworthiness certificate in December. Officials of Agni Aviation said the aircraft was owned by an information technology company in Pondicherry before being sold to it 18 months ago. The aviation company had flown it for 110 hours. The company offers small aircraft and helicopters for chartered flights and adventure sports. It was involved in the cloud-seeding operations, Project Varuna, taken up by the Karnataka Government last year.
The chief executive officer of the company, Arvind Sharma, said the Cessna was chartered by a person in Hyderabad for the election campaign.
A large crowd gathered at the scene of the crash. Police and firemen struggled to keep them at a safe distance. Soundarya's husband, another of her brothers, and her sister-in-law were among the first to reach the site.
The Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, the Union Minister, Arun Jaitley, the Karnataka Minister for Urban Development, D.K. Shivakumar, and the BJP State unit president, H.N. Ananthkumar, rushed to the spot. The Director-General of Police, T. Madiyal, and the City Police Commissioner, S. Mariswamy, were present.
Mr. Madiyal said: "The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation will conduct the mandatory inquiry and the bodies will be handed over to the relatives after the inquest." Two local DGCA officials visited the crash site and the Agni Aviation office.
Mr. Krishna said that "it is a very unfortunate event ... we have lost a talented actress who was popular both in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh." Mr. Jaitley said: "It is tragic that all four were young and the actress was actively involved in the election campaign ... while Soundarya was busy addressing election meetings, Amarnath was looking after media relations; Kadam was a popular BJP leader."
Mr. Krishna later ordered an investigation into the crash, according to the Karnataka Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education, B.K. Chandrashekar.
Soundarya was later cremated here.
No comments:
Post a Comment