Aeronautical engineering students come to the rescue of the two injured Surya Kiran pilots

​BENGALURU: The two injured Surya Kiran pilots who guided the residents of an apartment in ISRO Layout, Nagenahalli, to remove their parachutes in which they were entangled after they had ejected from their aircraft.

A final-year aeronautical engineering student belonging to the Nitte Meenakshi Engineering College and who is also a resident of a third-floor flat of Ultimate Signature apartment, 30ft from the crash site, Chetan Kumar had told a source, that he and his friends were keenly interested in the aero show.

“My classmates, Akash and Prajwal, and I were standing outside our apartment watching the Surya Kiran aerobatics. We saw two aircraft collide. While one fell very close to us, another fell a few metres away from it. I heard a huge blast and saw flames and thick, black smoke billowing out of the spot. I could feel the heat of the explosion,” he said.

“I started running to the spot and my friends and others followed. I saw two pilots in parachutes lying close to the debris that was in flames. They were conscious and spoke calmly to us,” he added. 

Chethan also said that, “The pilots guided us to remove their parachutes. There was a lot of heat around and we could hear small explosions from the debris. My friends and I told the pilots that we’d take them to a safe place. We carried them a few feet away from the crash site. By then, IAF personnel arrived and asked us to move away. They rushed the pilots to hospital.”