MANGALORE: One of the bravehearts who lost their lives in the chopper crash during the rescue operations in Uttarakhand is a wing commander with roots in Mangalore. Darryl Castelino was commanding the ill-fated IAF chopper that crashed after rescue operation in Uttarakhand.
The wing commander is survived by his mother Leena Castelino, wife Jyothi Castelino, son Ethan Castelino (7) and daughter Angelina Castelino (4).
While Darryl’s late father Harold, BEST employee, hailed from Kadri in Dakshina Kannada district, his mother is from Bajpe, Kinnigoli. The family resides in Vakola, Santa Cruz. He was attached to the IAF base at Kolkata. Darryl was born and brought up in Mumbai.
Darryl’s brother-in-law Rony Olivera from Kundapur-Padukone and others left for Kolkata on Wednesday morning to receive his body. Sources said the family had not yet received the body.
Sources said that the body would be brought to Kolkata on Thursday afternoon and after military honours it would be handed over to the family.
The funeral service will be held at a Santa Cruz church in Mumbai.
Darryl was in the Mi-17 that took off from Gauchar, off the Rishikesh-Joshimath axis, to aid rescue efforts in Guptkashi and Kedarnath. It was bringing back ITBP and NDRF men after they successfully completed the rescue effort in Kedarnath. Bad weather is suspected to have led to the crash of the newly-acquired Russian-built Mi-17V5 helicopter. The chopper went down north of Gaurikund, the base camp for the trek to Kedarnath, at around 12.30pm on Tuesday.
~ TNN
