Five senior pilots of Air India died in May due to Covid pandemic

Five senior pilots of Air India have died in May due to COVID-19, senior officials said on Thursday, adding that the carrier has started vaccinating its employees from May 15 onwards after a delay due to non-availability of vaccines.

These five senior pilots were Captain Harsh Tiwary, Captain G P S Gill, Captain Prasad Karmakar, Captain Sandeep Rana and Captain Amitesh Prasad, they said.

Meanwhile, private carriers such as Vistara and AirAsia India have given at least the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to around 99 per cent and 96 per cent of their eligible employees respectively as of now.

People who are being treated for COVID-19 or have recently recovered from COVID-19 are not considered eligible for vaccination.