While four persons are reportedly dead in the crash, there is no official confirmation yet and their identities have not been revealed
Security personnel stand guard outside the entrance of defence chief General Bipin Rawat's house in New Delhi on Wednesday. Pic/ PTI
One of the big questions that is facing the armed forces is, how did a helicopter carrying a very important person -- India's Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat -- crash? While several persons are reportedly dead, their identities are yet to be revealed.
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At least four senior military officials were feared dead when the Indian Air Force chopper crashed in Tamil Nadu's Coonoor on Wednesday afternoon. General Rawat's wife was also reported to be on board. Locals who saw the chopper crash helped in rescue operations. An eyewitness said it was misty, due to which the chopper may have hit a tree and gone down. He said he reached the spot and saw the chopper was upside down. It immediately caught fire, he said.
"Comprehensive checks of the helicopter would have been done. There would have been a standby helicopter as well. The weather condition would have been checked. In this case, if the weather at Wellington was marginal, they may have decided to make an attempt and then call it off," said a former official of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Also Read: CDS Gen Bipin Rawat in chopper crash: What you need to know
The official said that a technical snag or bad weather could have been possible factors that caused the crash. According to him, if all things were normal, the one possibility was that as the chopper was close to Coonoor, it would have been flying low, or perhaps flew into the hill to duck beneath clouds. A study of the chopper's black box would throw more light on the cause of the accident, he said.
Confirming General Rawat's presence on board the crashed helicopter, the Indian Air Force tweeted, "An IAF Mi-17V5 helicopter, with CDS Gen Bipin Rawat on board, met with an accident today near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu."
Two passengers were severely injured. Drones are being used to locate the survivors, reports said. The force said that an inquiry had been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident.
The chopper took off from the Sulur air base and was proceeding to Wellington when it crashed.
Others who were on board the chopper were Brigadier L.S. Lidder, Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitender Kumar, Naik Vivek Kumar, Naik B. Sai Teja, Havaldar Satpal and pilots.
The rescued suffered serious injuries and have been taken to the Military Hospital in Wellington cantonment.
The hospital is surrounded by a strong contingent of police personnel. According to reports, four bodies were recovered from the accident site.
A former Wing Commander of the IAF told IANS that "based on the visuals on the news channels, the helicopter must have crashed with a strong impact and exploded".
According to Tamil Nadu Health Secretary Dr J. Radhakrishnan, a special medical team has been sent to Coonoor to provide treatment to the injured. The TN Chief Minister may visit the injured in the hospital, sources said.
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