Pall of gloom descends on pilots' houses

Pall of gloom descends on pilots' houses
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Delhi, July 17: Four-year old Karan and one-year-old Yash played around joyfully in their east Delhi apartment blissfully unaware of the tragedy that has struck the family.

They were not aware that their father Captain M S Sohanpal would never return, that their mother Niti has gone to fetch the body of her beloved husband, who piloted the ill-fated Alliance Air plane. "I have nothing to say," said Mridu, the captain's aunt, who was looking after the kids in their modest rented residence in Taxila apartments in the Patparganj area.

Neighbours described the couple as "simple" and "warm".

"Niti is a housewife and Amit studies in Amity International School and they originally belong to Indore," is all that a neighbour could say, apparently perplexed by the presence of a large media team.

The scene was no different at the residence of Arvind Singh Bagga, co-pilot of the ill-fated aircraft.

His father J S bagga, a power project consultant and sister, Vinny, had left in the morning to bring back the body. Relatives refused to speak to the media.

"Saheb was a gentleman. Nice people die young," said Bagga's driver, Uday, as the co-pilot's little pomeranian dog remained restive in his leash, unnerved by the large number of journalists who had descended at their bungalow in the posh Hauz Khas area.

Bagga's wife, Vidya, an air hostess with Lufthansa, was flying down from Frankfurt, is all that the family could say.