According to India’s defence minister, an Indian air force helicopter that crashed and killed the country’s defence chief, General Bipin Rawat, and 12 others lost contact with air traffic control seven minutes before it was supposed to land and did not send a distress call before it was discovered in flames in a forested area.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh did not mention any SOS by the helicopter crew or adverse weather in the region in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in a statement to India’s Parliament on Thursday.
The crash on Wednesday killed Rawat, his wife, and 11 army and air force troops on board.
According to the force, the lone survivor, air force Captain Varun Singh, is on life support at a military hospital. Singh stated, “Every effort is being taken to preserve his life.”
A military investigating committee began working hours after the incident, according to Singh. According to media accounts, voice and data recorders, as well as the black box, were found from the location.
When the air force helicopter they were travelling in crashed down in the town of Coonoor on Wednesday, the Russian-made Mi-17V5 helicopter was on its way to a military staff college in southern India’s Tamil Nadu state.
The cause of the crash remained unknown at the time. As local neighbours struggled to put out the fire and recover bodies from the wreckage, television photos showed plumes of smoke pouring from the debris.
Singh said the Mi-17 V5 helicopter took off from the Sulur Air Base at 11:48 a.m. on Wednesday, according to his brief address in Parliament. The aircraft was supposed to arrive at a hillside military location at 12.15 p.m., but the base lost communication with it seven minutes before that.
“Locals spotted a fire in the forest near Coonoor and rushed to the spot where they observed the wreckage of military helicopter engulfed in flames,” Singh said.
Meanwhile, the bodies of Rawat and the other 12 people killed in the disaster will be transported to New Delhi, where the top general will be buried with full military honours, according to Singh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government nominated Rawat, 63, as India’s first chief of defence staff in late 2019. The job was created with the intention of bringing the army, navy, and air force together. He also served as a defence ministry adviser.
Rawat, according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, made a significant contribution to modernising the country’s armed forces. “His strategic thoughts and perspectives were remarkable,” Modi stated.
Rawat, a counterinsurgency veteran, previously served as army chief of staff and oversaw soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmir and along the Chinese border.
