Locals reportedly grabbed the final moments of India’s military General Bipin Rawat’s chopper crash on camera. The chopper can be seen soaring as eyewitnesses rushed to the crash site in Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) confirmed the death of CDS Gen Rawat, his wife, and 11 others on board the chopper. Gen Bipin Rawat was on a visit to Defence Services Staff College in Wellington.
General Bipin Rawat’s chopper crash video
The helicopter crash on Wednesday near Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor plunged us in never-ending remorse.
The first CDS (Combined Defence Services) head and General Bipin Rawat along with his wife and 11 officers died in the helicopter crash.
The high ranked officers who sadly died in the chopper crash are:
- Brigadier LS Lidder
- Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh
- Naik Gursewak Singh
- Naik Jitendra Kumar
- Lance Naik Vivek Kumar
- Lance Naik B Sai Teja
- Havaldar Satpal.
The lone survivor is Group Captain Varun Singh, decorated with the Shaurya Chakra on Independence Day.
He is being treated for injuries at the Military Hospital in Wellington.
The state of mourning in the country
The mortal remains of General Bipin Rawat and 12 others were taken to Sulur Air Force Station.
Tamil Nadu ministers laid wreaths and paid floral tributes at the Madras Regimental Centre at Wellington.
Parliament observed silence to mourn the death of the dead soldiers.
The expelled ministers also halted their procession against the government to offer condolences to the soldiers.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh calls for inspection of the accident
The horrific crash resulted in the death of some highly reputed and decorated officers.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh said that the IAF has ordered a tri-service inquiry. The investigation will be led by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh.
The “black box” or flight data recorder was found after the crash. A black box is an electronic device that records cockpit conversation, altitude, air pressure, etc. It would help to know more about the unfortunate accident.
Miseries and the history of misfortunes
The crashed IAF Mi-17V5 is a Russian-made helicopter.
The incident points to a major similarity to many previous crashes of aircraft and deaths of soldiers.
Russian made Mi series has been involved in many previous crashes such as
The 1963 Poonch helicopter crash killed six high-ranking air force soldiers.
Arunachal Pradesh crash in 2010 caused 12 casualties. 11 were IAF soldiers and two pilots among them.