India’s foremost military officer, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, was killed in a chopper crash near Ooty on Wednesday after an Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper they were travelling in crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu.
“With deep regret, it has now been ascertained that General Bipin Rawat, Mrs Madhulika Rawat and 11 other persons on board have died in the unfortunate accident,” the Indian Force said in a tweet.
The crash happened at a distance of about 10 km from the helipad where it was to land. Earlier today, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the incident. According to sources, Singh will brief Parliament on the incident tomorrow.
Sources earlier said that at least three injured people from the crash were taken to a nearby hospital. The crash took place in the Nilgiris, shortly after the Mi-series chopper took off from the army base in Sulur.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and many others paid tributes to General Rawat.
The helicopter belonged to the 109 Helicopter Unit based at the Sulur airbase near Coimbatore. It was a Mi-17 V5 variant, one of the latest versions of military transport helicopter available around the world.
