Kochi: The mortal remains of 23-year-old Malayali pilot Sreehari Sukesh, who died in a mid-air collision during a training flight in Canada, will arrive in Kerala on July 26. The body is expected to land at Cochin International Airport at 8.10 am via an Air India flight, according to Sreehari’s maternal uncle, Deepesh Chandran.

An agency appointed by the funeral home handling the body informed the family about the arrangements. Chandran and a few of Sukesh’s cousins will receive the remains. Following the necessary formalities at the airport, the coffin will be transported by ambulance to a hospital and then to the family’s residence.

A public viewing will be held at the house in Tripunithura from 12 pm to 4 pm, after which the funeral will take place at the Tripunithura Municipal Crematorium.

Sreehari, a native of Tripunithura in Kochi, died on July 8 in Manitoba, Canada, while undergoing training at Harv’s Air flying school. He was piloting a Cessna 172 when it collided mid-air with a two-seater Cessna 152. The other victim, 20-year-old Canadian national Savannah Royes, was also a student at the same school.

According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the crash occurred in the Rural Municipality of Hanover. Emergency services located the wreckage south of Steinbach, and both pilots were declared dead at the scene.

Sreehari completed his higher secondary education at Global Public School, Kochi. His sister Samyuktha is currently in Class 12 at the same school. His father, Sukesh, works at the Central Bank Angamaly branch, and his mother, Deepa, at UST Global, Infopark Kochi. It has been over a year since Sreehari moved to Canada to get his commercial pilot's licence.