CDS General Bipin Rawat, wife, among 13 dead in chopper crash: IAF

08 December,2021 10:30 PM IST |  Coonoor  |  Agencies

A total of 14 people including Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife, Defence Assistant, security commandos and IAF pilots were on board the chopper

CDS General Bipin Rawat. File Pic/ PTI


Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 other people on board died after an an Indian Air force helicopter crashed in Tamil Nadu's Coonoor on Wednesday, the Indian Air Force (IAF) confirmed. The other victims, all from the armed forces, were identified as Brigadier LS Lidder, Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh, Wing Commander PS Chauhan, Squadron Leader K Singh, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitender Kumar, Lance Naik Vivek, Lance Naik B S Teja, Havaldar Satpal, JWO Das and JWO Pradeep, according to official sources.

The Mi-17V5 helicopter carrying Gen. Rawat, the 63-year-old tri-services chief who would have completed two years at the end of this month in the new post after serving as the Army chief, crashed killing 13 of the 14 people on board including his wife and 11 other armed forces personnel, the officials said. The lone survivor, Group Captain Varun Singh, Directing Staff at DSSC, is currently under treatment at a military hospital in nearby Wellington, the IAF said.

News agency ANI, citing sources, also posted on Twitter that Wing Commander Prithvi Singh Chauhan was the pilot of the Mi-17V5. "He is the Commanding Officer of the 109 Helicopter Unit," added the tweet.

The helicopter carrying Rawat and others had left Sulur IAF station in nearby Coimbatore around 11.48 am and was supposed to land at DSSC in Wellington at Udhagamandalam about 45 minutes later, official sources said, adding the mishap occurred at 12.22 pm. The CDS had earlier reached the IAF station from Delhi by an Embraer aircraft at 11.34 am.

Locals at the site where the chopper crashed. Pic/ Pallav Paliwal

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In this file photo taken on January 15, 2018 the then Indian army chief Bipin Rawat inspects the Army Day parade in New Delhi. Pic/ PTI

(With agency inputs)

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