Two Navy officers die as glider crashes during training session in Kochi

The glider is being salvaged and the Southern Naval Command has tasked a board of inquiry with looking into the incident, a defence spokesperson said.

Naval power glider crashed near the Thoppumpady bridge in Kochi | Twitter/@SSBCrack

Kochi: Two Navy personnel died as a glider on routine flight crashed here on Sunday morning, a Defence spokesperson said.

He said the naval power glider was on a routine training sortie and took off from INS Garuda. It crashed near Thoppumpady bridge close to the naval base at around 7 am.

Lt Rajeev Jha and Petty officer Sunil Kumar, who were in the glider, were rescued from the crash site and shifted to INHS Sanjivani.

However, they were declared brought dead, the spokesperson said.

The glider is being salvaged and a board of inquiry has been ordered by the Southern Naval Command into the incident, he said.