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MiG-21 crash separates IAF pilot couple

The mortal remains of Flight Lieutenant Shreya Shukla, who died in a MiG-21 crash in Delhi on Saturday, was consigned to flames with full military honours in Chandigarh on Sunday.

The Last Post was sounded as guns were reversed and wreaths were laid on the young officer's body by the air officer commanding-in-chief, Western Command, and a host of senior officers and other people.

The Indian Air Force's probably first pilot couple was separated with the Flt Lt Shukla's cremation.

The uniformed Flight Lieutenant Supriya Gurjar Shukla, who had maintained a stoic composure all through, broke down as she bid adieu to her 27-year-old husband and father of their six-month-old son Advait with a murmur of the words, "Na koi hai, na koi tha zindagi mein tumhare bina, tum dena sath mera..."

"This is probably the first IAF pilot couple to have been separated by death while in harness," defence sources and Shukla's brother-in-law Shailesh said.

An officer with the Chandigarh-based 48 Squadron, Flt Lt Supriya Shukla, who has been flying transport aircraft to tough border terrain in Kashmir, was seen consoling her parents-in-law and brother-in-law, hugging them and clasping their hands during the ceremony. But she could hold back her tears no more as she gave her husband the final salute.

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