Vikas Varyani, SM

Biography

Major Vikas Varyani hailed from Jaipur in Rajasthan. He was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers in the Indian Army, and later trained in helicopter maintenance operations, after which he was transferred to the Army Aviation Corps. By 2014 he was serving as an engineering officer with the 39 (Independent) Recce and Observation Flight based at Bareilly. On 1 October 2014, Major Varyani was tasked for a reconnaissance mission near the Indo-China border in the Munsiyari area of Pithoragarh, flying as engineering officer alongside pilots Major Abhijay Thapa and Captain Avinash Somavanshi. The crew took off in their Cheetah helicopter and carried out the assigned task as planned. While returning from the mission, after roughly sixty minutes of flying time, the aircraft developed rotor failure that rapidly escalated into a serious in-flight emergency. As the crippled helicopter struggled, the crew realised it was flying over the thickly populated Bhartol village and the army base of the 54 Engineer Regiment. Major Thapa quickly concluded that decisive action was needed to minimise casualties on the ground, and Major Varyani, as engineering officer, provided every possible support to manoeuvre the stricken aircraft away from the inhabited area. Their combined effort steered the helicopter clear of the village and the army base, saving the lives of over eleven thousand residents and their brethren in uniform. The aircraft crashed away from the populated area, and Major Varyani and his fellow crew members could not survive the impact. For his courage and selflessness, Major Vikas Varyani was awarded the Sena Medal.