Sergeant Anoop Kumar S

Sergeant Anoop Kumar hailed from Alancherry in Kollam district of Kerala. Son of Shri Sashidharan and Smt Vimala, Sgt Anoop Kumar had a brother Aneesh as his sibling. He did his schooling from Yeroor Higher Secondary School in Alancherry and joined the Indian Air Force in the year 2007 after completing his school education. He was recruited into one of the technical trades of the Air Force and was trained in aircraft systems maintenance. After completing his training ,he worked at various front-line Air Force bases maintaining diverse air assets of the Air Force. In the year 2017, he got married to Ms Vindhyajit and the couple had a son Dhrona. 

AN-32 Crash (Indo-China Border): 3rd Jun 2019

During Jun 2019, Srgt Anoop Kumar was serving with 43 Sqn AF based in Air Force station Jorhat in Assam. The Sqn was operating AN-32 twin-engine turboprop transport aircraft and was undertaking various air operations including critical logistic support operations for the army troops deployed in far-flung and inaccessible areas of the Northeast. On 3rd Jun 2019, Srgt Anoop Kumar along with his 7 other crew members was tasked for an air support operation. The other crew members of the aircraft included Wg Cdr Ganta Mahendra Charles, Sq Ldr H Vinod, Flt Lt Mohit Garg, Flt Lt Ashish Tanwar, Flt Lt Sunit Mohanty , Flt Lt Rajesh Thapa, and Warrant Officer KK Mishra.  As per the assigned task, the aircraft was to take off from Jorhat IAF base and land at Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground in Arunachal Pradesh.

Flying in an area with a stretch of deep valleys and high mountains demanded a very high level of flying skills and the captain had the requisite experience and professional expertise to undertake various air operations in the area. As planned the aircraft with 8 crew members and 5 passengers including Corporal Sherin, LAC SK Singh, LAC Pankaj, and noncombatants Rajesh Kumar and Putali, took off from Jorhat at 12:27 pm. However It lost contact with ground control at 1 pm about 33 minutes after takeoff. The aircraft eventually crashed and the wreckage of the aircraft was found near Pari hills close to Gatte village, 16 km north of Lipo in Arunachal Pradesh, at an elevation of 12,000 feet. The wreckage was recovered 8 days after the crash following a massive rescue operation launched by the security forces. Besides the employment of the Indian Army, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the state police forces, IAF deployed a fleet of Sukhoi-30, C-130J, AN-32 aircraft, MI-17 and ALH helicopters for the rescue operation. Unfortunately, Sgt Anoop Kumar and all other crew members could not survive the crash and were martyred. Sgt Anoop Kumar was a competent and committed air warrior who laid down his life in the line of his duty.

Sgt Anoop Kumar is survived by his father Shri Sashidharan, mother Smt Vimala, wife Smt Vindhyajit, and son Dhrona.