Indian Navy Pilot Nishant Singh: Indian Navy Friday laid Commander Nishant Singh, one of its most accomplished fighter pilots, to rest in Goa with full military honors. Commander Singh was killed in a fatal Mig-29K crash off Goa coast on November 26 but it took 11 days of intensive search to locate his mortal remains 30 miles off the coast.
On Monday, Indian Navy had confirmed that it was able to locate the body of Commander Nishant Singh, who was missing since the crash, off Goa coast. The body was located from seabed 70 meters below the water surface.
“Commander Nishant Singh was laid to rest with full military honours at Goa on December 11,” Indian Navy said in a statement.
The Navy said Commander Nishant’s wife Nayaab Randhawa received the tricolour and her husband’s uniform from the Commanding Officer of the squadron.
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The son of a naval officer, Commander Nishant was a Qualified Flying Instructor adept on Kiran, Hawk and Mig-29K fighter aircrafts.
The Navy said it lost one of its most accomplished aviators as the pilot had also received advanced strike training with the US Navy.
“The officer was also a qualified mountaineer as well as a skilled yachtsman,” said the navy.
Last rites of Cdr Nishant Singh.
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Indian Navy Mig-29K crash
Commander Nishant was on a mission in the two-seat trainer variant of the MiG-29KUB fighter of Russian origin when it crashed last month.
The fighter jet was being operated from the INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier, which participated in Malabar 2020 naval exercise involving the navies of Australia, Japan and the US.
While the Navy was able to recover the aircraft on November 29, search teams were unable to find the body of Commander Nishant Singh who went missing following the crash.
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Altogether, nine warships and 14 aircraft, as well as fast interceptor craft, were deployed to locate the missing pilot.
This was the fourth accident of the MiG-29K fighter since 2018.
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