In the early hours of Sunday, a glider aircraft crashed at Kochi killing two navy officers - Lt Rajeev Jha (39) from Uttarakhand and petty officer Sunil Kumar (29) from Bihar. Lt Rajeev Jha, is survived with two children, while Kumar is unmarried.

The power glider which was on a routine training sortie, took off from INS Garuda, a Naval air station at Kochi and crashed near Thoppumpady bridge close to the naval base at around 7 am. Though the crew members were immediately rushed to the Naval hospital INHS Sanjivani, they were declared brought dead.

However, eye witnesses say that there was a delay in rescue operations. A Board of Inquiry has been ordered by the Southern Naval Command in to the incident.