An army helicopter crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu, killing 11 people. In this, 14 people including CDS General Bipin Rawat and his wife were aboard. The Defense Minister will give full details on this incident in Parliament tomorrow.
An Army Mi-17V5 helicopter crashed in the forests of Coonoor in Tamil Nadu at 12:20 pm on Wednesday. After this accident in the dense forests, the helicopter caught fire. In this, 13 officers of the army including Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat were on board. Rawat was accompanied by his wife Madhulika. According to reports, 11 bodies have been recovered so far, which have been badly burnt.
About an hour after the accident, it was informed that General Rawat had been taken to the Military Hospital in Wellington. No official statement has been issued about how his condition is. Some reports claim that he is seriously injured. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh reached General Rawat's house in Delhi to meet his family. The Defense Minister will give a statement on this incident in Parliament on Thursday.
General Bipin Rawat is the first Chief of Defense Staff of the country. He assumed this position on 1 January 2020. Rawat held the post of Army Chief from 31 December 2016 to 31 December 2019.
Retired Lt Gen HS Panag tribute has
yet been issued no official statement about General Bipin Rawat, but military sources and some former officials have tweeted about the death of General Bipin Rawat. Retired Lt Gen HS Panag has paid tribute to General Bipin Rawat by tweeting.
These people were in the helicopter
1. General Bipin Rawat
2. Madhulika Rawat
3. Brigadier LS Lidder
4. Lt Col Harjinder Singh
5. Nayak Gursewak Singh
6. Nayak Jitendra Kumar
7. Lance Naik Vivek Kumar
8. Lance Naik B. Sai Teja
9. Havildar Satpal
Water bodies up to 85%
, according to the news agency ANI, the helicopter was going to Wellington from Sulur Airbase. It was just 10 km away from the landing spot at the time of the accident. A team of doctors, army officers and CoBRA commandos are present on the spot. Efforts are on to identify the bodies that have been recovered, as they have been burnt to 85%. In the visuals of the accident that have come out, the helicopter was completely damaged and it was on fire.
The eyewitness said – the fireball had become a ball of
fire, an eyewitness of the helicopter accident told that he had heard a very loud sound earlier. Fell on trees from helicopter. After that it caught fire, it had become a ball of fire. Another eyewitness says that he saw burning people falling.
Mi-17 also crashed last month, all 12 aboard were killed
, the second Mi-17 helicopter crash in the country within a month. The previous chopper had crashed in Arunachal Pradesh on 19 November. All 12 people aboard the chopper were killed in that incident.
The Mi-17 was also used in Kargil,
the helicopter capable of carrying heavy loads in which Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat was aboard, is a Mi-17 series helicopter. This helicopter was made in the Soviet Union. India is using it since 2012. It is a medium twin turbine helicopter with two engines. This helicopter is used in both transport and battle roles.
Technically, the Mi-17 was developed by improving its previous version, the Mi-8. This chopper has the capacity to lift heavy loads. India used Mi-17 to attack Pakistani infiltrators during the Kargil War. An enemy missile shot down a Mi-17 chopper. It was only after this that India sent its fighter jet to attack. In India it is also used for VIP transport.
