Kerala plane crash: Air India Express employees pay tribute to co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar as his mortal remains reach Delhi

Air India Express employees paid tributes to co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar, who lost his life in the Kozhikode plane crash incident, here in Delhi on Sunday.

His mortal remains were brought from Kochi to the Delhi Airport at 2:25 am on Sunday, which are now being taken to his native place in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.

About 200 Air India members paid tributes to Kumar and observed two minutes of silence and prayed for the peace of departed officer.

"Our last conversation with Akhilesh was on Raksha Bandhan on a video call because the 'Rakhi' could not reach him. He was wearing a 'Kalava'. He was scheduled to come home on August 15, 16 but God has other wishes," Kumar's brother-in-law told .

The Air India Express flight, which was part of the Vande Bharat Mission, had crash-landed at the Kozhikode airport on Friday, leading to the death of 18 persons including the two pilots.

( With inputs from ANI )