A fatal plane crash in Deer Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador has left a family duel on the other side of the world.
The clash extended through the western city of Newfinal 5,000 people At the end of July After hearing the reports of a small plane that crashes near the region airport.
The plane was a Piper Navajo Twin-Engine plane. The pilot, a 54 -year -old man, and the lonely passenger, a 27 -year -old man, were declared dead on the scene.
This week, the family identified the passenger to CBC News as Gautham Santosh, from Kerala, India. He lived in Canada to become a pilot.
“I just wanted to fly. Since I was a child, I wanted to be a pilot,” said Gautham’s sister, Ganga Santosh, CBC News.
Now, he says, his family is in a state of shock and staggering.
“Everyone is devastated for such a thing, nobody would dream of what happens,” said Ganga Santosh.
I always wanted to be a pilot
Gautham Santosh is described as a gentleman and his brother -in -law Sonu Prathap said he was a reliable person.
“It was someone with whom you can count once you know him,” said Prathap. “Cliché sounds, but he was really like that.”
Ganga Santosh said his brother was determined to pursue his dream and become a pilot. When she was a child, she says, she was obsessed with the planes.
“My grandmother, she used to say that, any of the notebooks to open, will find images of these planes. And he had ideas about all of them, all kinds of models. I knew the name, I knew what the design was like, everything,” he said.
When it was time to seek postsecundaria education, Ganga Santosh said his brother was convinced to study mechanical engineering. She said her mother considered him the safest race option, but he retired after his second year in the program.
“He said: ‘No, this is not my passion. My passion is flying, as if it were destined to that,’ and finally my mother gave in,” said Ganga Santosh.
Gautham Santosh moved to Canada in 2019. He studied and worked at the Pacific Professional Flight Center in British Columbia. Ganga Santosh said he recently started working with the owner of the Twin-Engine Piper Navajo plane to get more flight hours.
“I think three or four weeks have passed since he has been working there with Kisik,” said Ganga Santosh.
Last contact
On July 26, his family knew he was going up to an plane in Deer Lake. Ganga Santosh said his brother called his mother beforehand.
“I had called my mother and said: ‘I’m going to the airport, it’s my day off, but there is a job I need to do, and after that I am resting,” he said.
His mother is shaken by the last conversation he had with Gautham Santosh.
“The last word he said was that he is resting, which is still hurting my mother so much. She did not believe that she would end at that type of rest,” said Barga Santosh.
Gautham Santosh had great plans for his future. In the short term, he was going to visit his home in September and would surprise his mother for ONAM, an annual harvest and cultural festival in India.
“He says: ‘I will be surprised at Mom. I will not tell him that I will come,” said Ganga Santosh. “He planned all that, but unfortunately, as you can see, he could not maintain those plans.”
Repatriation
Now, his family hopes to bring home what they can of his remains.
“It was a double engine flight, and it was supposed to fly for eight to 10 hours or something. So that fuel and the accident occurred just after the takeoff caused a really huge explosion,” he said.
“We still don’t know how much is.”
The accident is currently under investigation by the Canada Transport Security Board.
Ganga Santosh said what is left of his brother is in the hands of the office of the Forensic Doctor in St. John’s.
She hopes that in the coming weeks, her remains will be repatriated.
“We need it back, because in India, I am sure you know, we have some last rites and things to do,” said Ganga Santosh.
His brother died doing what he loved, he said.
“He just loved it. He used to say: ‘I flew so many hours. I flew 12 hours. I turned directly. It was incredible,” said Ganga Santosh.
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