He told me he would come back, says mother of missing pilot

He told me he would come back but it has been four days since I have heard from him, says Saroj Tanwar, mother of Flight Lieutenant Ashish Tanwar, who was flying the AN-32 aircraft which went missing over in Arunachal Pradesh, who is inconsolable.

"I am sure the aircraft has crossed over to China. Why is the government not talking to the neighbouring country to fast-track the operation? The search operation is going on but we have been told that due to bad weather, they could not locate the aircraft. My son told me that he would come back, but it has been four days since I have heard from him," Saroj Tanwar told ANI on Thursday.

Every passing hour the desolated family awaits the news of the recovery of the aircraft. The grieve-stricken mother further put forth her desire to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

"There are over 4 lakh army personnel in the eastern sector. Why can't they deploy them there to look for our son? We suspect that the aircraft has crossed over to China. This must be taken into account. Appropriate manpower must be put into work to find the aircraft," Ashish's paternal uncle, Udayvir Singh, said.

Elaborating on how Ashish joined the Indian Air Force, he said: "Ashish has always had an inclination towards joining the military as almost everyone in our family is in either Air Force or Army. He completed his early education from Kendriya Vidyalaya and later joined a B Tech course in Kanpur. After working with an MNC for some time, he joined IAF in December 2013. He was commissioned as a pilot in May 2015."

Ashish's wife, Sandhya, is who posted in Jorhat as Air Traffic Controller, saw the events unfurl the day the incident took place. She was on duty when an Indian Air Force AN-32 transport aircraft, carrying 13 IAF personnel, along with her husband, took off at 12:35 pm on June 3.

The flight, which was headed for Mechuka Advance Landing Ground in Arunachal Pradesh, lost contact with the ground authorities at 1300 hours.

"The couple had come here last month. After meeting us, they flew to Thailand on a vacation and stayed there for over a week," Singh added.