Nagpur: Ravindra Duragkar could only recall memories of his son, Flight Lieutenant Purvesh Duragkar, the most vivid being their phone chat on Wednesday and his visit home ten days ago for a family get-together.
As IAF officials tried to console the retired railway employee at his home in Nagpur’s New Subedar Layout, the grief-stricken father occasionally regained his composure to say that Purvesh took immense pride in flying a fighter jet.
Squadron Leader Anuj and Flight Lieutenant Purvesh were killed when a Su-30 MKI fighter jet crashed in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district, the IAF said on Friday. The jet was on a training sortie and disappeared from radar shortly after taking off from Jorhat airbase on Thursday.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 in response to a terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22, which was carried out by The Resistance Front, a proxy of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The security forces struck multiple terror camps in Pakistan and PoK, killing over 100 terrorists.
Pakistan then launched a missile and drone attack, which was intercepted by India. In retaliation, India struck airfields in Pakistan. A ceasefire was announced on May 10.
Duragkar said he had spoken to his son a day before the crash.
Flight Lieutenant Purvesh and Squadron Leader Anuj were on a training mission in a Su-30 MKI when it went missing shortly after taking off from the Jorhat airbase, about 60 km from where it crashed, killing both of them. Communication with the Russian-origin aircraft was lost at 7:42 pm, officials had said.
“My son was extremely proud to be part of the Indian Air Force. He would sometimes share his experience of flying fighter planes and the speeds that IAF jets achieve. He held his colleagues in high regard,” Duragkar said.
He said that Flight Lieutenant Purvesh took “immense pride” in flying a fighter jet.
He said that he was originally posted in Assam’s Tezpur but was operating from Jorhat as work was being carried out on the Tezpur runway.
“My son sacrificed himself in the service of the nation. Everyone should take inspiration from him,” Duragkar said.
“He achieved his dream, but he could not serve the nation as much as he wanted to. He had a short tenure of 4 years,” he said.
The flight lieutenant visited his home in Maharashtra’s Nagpur ten days ago for a family get-together.
Flight Lieutenant Purvesh, who did his schooling in Nagpur, was single.
A neighbour told PTI that he is survived by his parents and a sister who is settled in the US.
