Mourning their loved ones

It was a day of farewells in Andhra Pradesh. While the focus of most of the state was on the last journey of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, the others who died along with him in the ill-fated chopper crash were also given a tearful farewell by huge numbers of friends and others as well.

The entire police force in Ongole joined in their tribute to ASC Wesley, the chief security officer who died doing what he loved most. He was an ever-cheerful officer in the most trying circumstances.

Forty five-year-old Wesley leaves behind a seven-year-old son and five-year-old daughter.

"He was the brightest star in our family," his sister Varsha Wesley said.

Wesley had lost his father last month.

P Subramanyam, a 1983 batch officer who was in the chopper which crashed on Wednesday, had rejected plum assignments so he could continue to serve as a bureaucrat. He was also laid to rest in Nellore, his native district.