“We are dying every second”: Missing Dornier officer’s kin to PM Modi

The parents of Deputy Commandant Manoj K Soni (Navigator of the aircraft), who were till now in Chennai with their daughter-in-law, are now camping in the national capital to urge the PM, the Defence Minister and other senior functionaries to seek some international help in getting a clue about their son and his two colleagues.

“We are dying every second. Please understand our situation and let’s not have the sacrifice of the three young pilots go missing as a mystery. For us, every passing second is difficult to breathe. It is a matter of three brave young pilots who have devoted their lives for nation’s security. We have many questions popping in our mind,” Soni’s father Radheshyam Soni wrote to Modi in his ‘open’ letter.

The Coast Guard Dornier plane, CG-791, had taken off for a routine maritime surveillance sortie in coastal Tamil Nadu on June 8 and since then has been untraceable despite the CG and the Navy undertaking a massive search operation in the sea and the land areas. Soni, in his letter, says his family and that of the two other officers Vidya Sagar (Pilot) and Subhash Suresh (Co-Pilot) have some unanswered questions.

“Till today, we don’t know what malfunction actually has happened to the Dornier plane and where are the crew members? Will this search operation end up as a mystery? And will we never get to know anything?” he asked. The family, which hails from Madhya Pradesh’s capital Bhopal, is at present living with their married daughter in nearby Gurgaon and travel everyday to North Block to meet officials who could answer some of their queries.

“Myself – Radheshyam Soni, proud father of Manoj Kumar Soni, with very heavy heart request you (PM) to please look into this matter with utmost urgency. The search process needs to be fast-tracked and then we should do whatever is required to get the results ASAP (as soon as possible),” he said.