Date:31/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/31/stories/2008083154930700.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

‘He sacrificed his life to save schoolchildren’

Staff Reporter

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Grieving: Asha Ananth, mother of Ananth Akash, in Bangalore.

BANGALORE: Asha Ananth is weighed down by her sorrow. “My son left his house (in Melbourne) on Wednesday after sending a greeting card for his father’s birthday on Thursday,” she wept.

The message on the card: “I cannot find a father like you in the whole world … I will be your best son.” Her son, 24-year-old Ananth Akash, who had gone to Australia to pursue a career as a pilot, died in a mid-air collision near Melbourne on Wednesday.

Her husband M. Ananthapadmanabha consoled her: “Take courage.”

The couple is waiting in agony for the arrival of the son’s body at their Chamarajpet house.

Akash, who was flying a Cessna 150, was reportedly hit by another aircraft. “He died after managing to steer the aircraft clear of a school where some 200 students are studying,” said Akash’s uncle M. Ramaprasad Rao.

“He sacrificed his life for the safety of the schoolchildren,” he added.

Akash joined the club two months ago.