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IAF confirms Bipin Rawat, wife among 13 dead in Army chopper crash

CDS Bipin Rawat was going to the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, to give a lecture

Wednesday December 8, 2021 6:50 PM, ummid.com with inputs from Agencies

Bipin Rawat

New Delhi: India's first Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife, and 11 others were killed when their IAF Mi-17 helicopter crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu's Nilgiris district on Wednesday, the IAF announced.

"With deep regret, it has now been ascertained that Gen Bipin Rawat, Mrs Madhulika Rawat and 11 other persons on board have died in the unfortunate accident," the Indian Air Force said in a tweet.

The CDS was going to the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, to give a lecture.

The chopper, with a total of 14 persons on board, took off from the Sulur air base near Coimbatore and was on its way to Coonoor.

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When the chopper was a few minutes away from landing, it, as per eyewitnesses, hit a tree, crashed, and caught fire, resulting in several casualties.

"Deeply Anguished"

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in a series of tweets, said:

"Deeply anguished by the sudden demise of Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 other Armed Forces personnel in an extremely unfortunate helicopter accident today in Tamil Nadu."

 


"His untimely death is an irreparable loss to our Armed Forces and the country", he wrote.

"General Rawat had served the country with exceptional courage and diligence. As the first Chief of Defence Staff he had prepared plans for jointness of our Armed Forces," he said.

Along with General Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, 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 were travelling in the chopper.

The IAF had confirmed a little before 2 pm that an Mi-17 V5 helicopter with General Rawat on board had "met with an accident near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu".

The Air Force had earlier said that an inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident.


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