They sacrificed their young lives for Lanka

Several Air Force personnel paid the ultimate sacrifice for the country on that fateful Monday morning when the LTTE launched a surprise predawn air and land attack on the Air Force base at Anuradhapura. Among those killed was 35-year-old Wing Commander J.M. Amila Prasad Mohotti who piloted the ill-fated Bell 212 helicopter that crashed at Dodamadalawa in Mihintale while the aircraft was in pursuit of the attackers.

It was a tragic end to the career of the brave young pilot hailing from Telejjavilla in Matara who joined the Air Force in 1994 as a cadet officer having completed his studies at Rahula College. Wing Commander Mohotti had called his wife Hemamali Kumari the night before his tragic death to inquire about her plans for the next day’s visit to a leading international school in Rajagiriya where she intended to take up her appointment as a teacher.

He had also chatted with their three-year-old daughter Sunima on the phone, the bereaved widow said. Wing Commander Mohotti had expressed his desire to take early retirement from the Air Force to be close to his family but that was not to be. At Vavuniya early last Monday, he boarded the Bell 212 helicopter with is co-pilot Akuretiyage Buddhika Manoj De Silva and two gunners to assist the Anuradhapura camp which was under Tiger attack.

Sadly they could not fly for long as the helicopter crashed at Dodamadalawa in Mihinale with the cause of the crash still unknown and under investigation. Among those who condoled with pilot Mohotti’s family was special peace facilitator and Norwegian Minister Erik Solheim. His co-pilot Manoj de Silva (27) had joined the Sri Lanka Air Force in 2000 and during his career as a pilot had been stationed mostly in Vavuniya and was actively engaged in the war effort.

Buddhika’s father Upali Akuretiya said the young pilot had been woken early on Monday morning to be told that the Anuradhapura air base was under LTTE attack and was needed to fly there.“Buddhika had called up one of his friends stationed at the Anuradhapura base to tell his friend, he will be coming there soon,” his father said.He fondly recalled that during his son’s school career at Dharmasoka College in Ambalangoda he was a reserved young boy and associated only with one or two friends and never went out of his home other than to go to school.

The parents are eager to know what really led to the helicopter crash that killed their son and are more troubled by the contradictory stories they have heard regarding the cause of the crash. So while investigations continue, the two families struck by tragedy are fighting to come to terms with the loss of their loved ones. What ever the investigations may reveal, the loss they have suffered will last their life time.