(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Home Minister Rajnath Singh yesterday led hundreds of Border Security Force and Sashastra Seema Bal personnel in paying tribute to 10 BSF and SSB men killed in a plane crash here.
The ceremony was held at the BSF hangar at the Safdarjung airport.
Singh, accompanied by his two deputies Kiren Rijiju and Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary, met the families of those killed and assured them of financial and other assistance from the central government.
On Tuesday morning, nine BSF troopers and an SSB co-pilot were killed when their Beechcraft Super King plane flying to Ranchi crashed in Dwarka soon after takeoff.
Following the ceremony, the bodies were sent to their respective native places.
The victims were the pilot Bhagwati Prasad Bhatt, and co-pilot Rajesh Shivrain, Deputy Commandant D Kumar, Inspectors S N Sharma, Ravindra Kumar Yadav, Sub-Inspectors Chotte Lal Sharma, Surender Singh, Rabinder Kumar, Assistant Sub-Inspector D P Chauhan and Constable R K Rawat.
Earlier, BSF Director General D K Pathak announced a compensation of Rs1.5mn for the families of each victim, in addition to an ex gratia of Rs1mn.
The family members urged the home minister to order a probe into the plane crash, saying troopers will continue to lose lives and their families suffer if it was not done.
"My dad was a hero and died a hero... but why should the soldiers pay the price every time (in case of crash)? Why is the government sitting quiet over deaths due to plane crashes over the years? We are the sufferers in the end," said Rabinder Kumar's daughter, who fainted several times during the ceremony.
Priyanka, a sister of Dhirendra Kumar, said: "We do not have hope from the government as such incidents will continue to occur and soldiers continue to die. We do not seek any clarification from the higher authorities as we know it's not going to yield anything."
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