Army chopper with CDS Bipin Rawat on board  crashes in Tamil Nadu, rescue operations on

An Mi17 V5 Helicopter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat including other senior officials on board crashed in Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor this afternoon.

Indian Air Force took to Twitter and wrote, “An IAF Mi-17V5 helicopter, with CDS Gen Bipin Rawat on board, met with an accident today near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu. An Inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident.”

Four people have been rescued, and four bodies have been recovered, however their identities have yet to be identified.

Bodies recovered from the site of the crash (between Coimbatore and Sulur where a military chopper crashed).

So far a search operation is on for others.

Meanwhile, the people who were rescued were taken to Wellington cantonment in Nilgiris district with severe injuries.

Reportedly there were around 14 people on board travelling along with Bipin Rawat and his wife Mrs. Madhulika Rawat. 

Some of the passengers have been identified as –Brig LS Lidder, Lt Col Harijinder Sing, NK Gursewak Singh, NK Jitendra Kumar, L/NK Vivek Kumar, L/NK B Sai Teja, and Hav Satpal.

According to sources, Rawat’s staff and some family members were also on board in the Mi-series helicopter.

Rawat is the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff appointed on January 1, 2020. He was appointed the head of the newly created Department of Military Affairs in one of the most significant reorganization in Defence Ministry in decades.

He had served as the Chief of the Army for three years before taking over as the CDS.