Co-Pilot’s Wife, Due To Give Birth In 15 Days, Unaware Of His Death In Kozhikode Crash

Co-pilot Akhilesh Sharma (picture courtesy PTI)

The pregnant wife of Akhilesh Sharma, co-pilot of the Air India Express aircraft that crashed in Kozhikode on Friday evening, has not yet been told about her husband’s death as she is expecting their first child within a fortnight.

“Initially we got the news that bhaiyya (Akhilesh) was critical and hospitalized after the plane crash, but later at night we were informed about his death. My brother Bhuvnesh and brother-in-law Sanjeev Sharma have left for Kozhikode via Delhi,” said Lokesh, who also wants to become a commercial pilot.

“We have not told bhabi (Megha Sharma) about the death of her husband as she is expecting a child in a few days. She is aware of the plane crash though,” added Lokesh.

Akhilesh was the eldest of three brothers, and they have an elder sister also. Their father Tulsi Ram Sharma owns a business in Mathura. The family has been living in Govind Nagar are of Mathura city.

Akhilesh graduated from Amarnath College in Mathura and joined CAE Oxford Aviation Academy in Gondia (Maharashtra) to train as a pilot. He took up a job with Air India in 2017 and got married to Megha in 2018.

Eighteen people, including the pilot and co-pilot, have so far been confirmed to have lost their lives when the Vande Bharat flight from Dubai overshot the runway at the table-top Kozhikode airport and fell into a gorge, breaking into two pieces.