Helicopter carrying India’s most senior general crashes in forest leaving at least four dead
Helicopter carrying India’s military chief, his wife and several officers crashes and bursts into flames in dense forest leaving at least four dead
A helicopter carrying General Bipin Rawat, 63, crashed in a forest on WednesdayDefence chief was in a Mi-17 chopper which crashed near Coonoor, Tamil NaduAt least four people are dead following the crash, according to fire departmentRawat and his wife were headed to Defence Services Staff College, sources say
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A helicopter carrying India‘s most senior general has crashed and burst into flames in a forest, leaving at least four dead, the air force confirmed.
General Bipin Rawat was on board a Russian-made Mi-17V5 chopper that crashed in a forest near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday, the Indian Air Force said on Twitter.
The defence chief, 63, and his wife were joined by other officers on the chopper, which took off from Sulur Air Force Station on Wednesday afternoon, according to local media reports.
Rawat was travelling to the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu to deliver a lecture when the helicopter crashed in Coonoor, which is on the flight path.
Videos broadcast on Indian news channels showed a fiery wreck at the crash site in a dense forested area the Nilgiris district. Four people have been confirmed dead.
General Bipin Rawat was on board a Russian-made Mi-17 chopper that ‘met with an accident today near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu’, the Indian Air Force. Pictured: Fire at the crash site
The defence chief (pictured), 63, and his wife were on board the chopper with other officers and were headed to the Defence Services Staff College, a senior army officer said
Two defence sources, who declined to be named, said they were trying to ascertain if Rawat was among the dead following the crash near the town of Coonoor.
Speaking about Rawat’s status, one source said: ‘We don’t know yet.’
Rawat is India’s first chief of defence staff, a position that the government established in 2019, and is seen as close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
‘There are three to four dead at the crash site but we don’t know the identities,’ a fire department official in Coonoor said.
‘Some of the injured have been taken to the hospital,’ he said, adding around two dozen fire brigade vehicles were at the scene to douse a fire.
The Air Force said that Rawat, who had previously served as India’s Chief of Army Staff, was travelling in an Mi-17V5 helicopter.
At least three people have been confirmed dead following the crash, a fire department official in Coonoor said
Videos broadcast on Indian news channels showed a fiery wreck at the crash site in a dense forested area near the college in Nilgiris district
Helicopter took off from Sulur Air Force Station on Wednesday afternoon, according to media reports. Pictured: Fire and rubble at the scene
India has dozens of the Russian military chopper that are widely used by the military as well as top government ministers visiting defence locations.
‘This is a safe, proven helicopter, I have travelled on it in difficult situations,’ former army chief J.J.Singh said.
The Mi-17 helicopter, which first entered service in the 1970s and is in wide use by defence services around the world, has been involved in a number of accidents over the years.
Fourteen people died in a crash last month when an Azerbaijani military Mi-17 chopper went down during a training flight.
In 2019, four Indonesian soldiers were killed and five others wounded in central Java in another training accident involving the aircraft.
India’s air force said an inquiry was underway into Wednesday’s accident.
