Avinash Yashwant Somvanshi, SM

Biography

Captain Avinash Yashwant Somvanshi hailed from Borgaon village in the Solapur district of Maharashtra, the son of Shri Yashwant Somvanshi and Smt Janeshwari. He completed his schooling up to Class X in Akluj before moving to Aurangabad to prepare for the National Defence Academy entrance examination. An alumnus of the 114th NDA course, he trained at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun and was commissioned into the 12 Dogra Regiment in 2009. Flying was his abiding passion, and he was later selected for flying training and transferred to the Army Aviation Corps. In 2014, Captain Somvanshi was serving with the 39 (Independent) Recce and Observation Flight under the Army base in Bareilly. On 01 October 2014, he was tasked with a reconnaissance mission near the Indo-China border in Munsiyari, Pithoragarh, flying a Cheetah helicopter alongside Major Abhijay Thapa and Major Varyani. The crew took off and completed the assigned task as per the operational plan. While returning, the aircraft developed a rotor failure that escalated into a grave emergency. Captain Somvanshi realised they were flying over the thickly populated Bhartol village and the army base of the 54 Engineer Regiment. Assessing the situation swiftly, he transmitted a distress call to the air traffic control tower and cut off the fuel supply to the engine to minimise collateral damage. Together with his captain, Major Thapa, he manoeuvred the crippled helicopter away from the inhabited area, saving the lives of over 11,000 residents of Bhartol village and their comrades of the 54 Engineer Regiment. The aircraft crashed clear of the populated zone, and Captain Somvanshi and his crew could not survive. He was 26 years old. For his outstanding service and supreme sacrifice, Captain Somvanshi was posthumously awarded the Sena Medal.