Chopper Crash: General Bipin Rawat, his family members, employees were in the chopper
New Delhi:
Chief of Defense Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 others were killed in an Air Force helicopter that crashed between Coimbatore and Sulur in Tamil Nadu this afternoon.
The Indian Air Force confirmed the casualties on Twitter. The Chief of Defense Staff flew from Delhi to Sulur earlier today.
General Rawat India had its first Chief of Defense Staff, a post that was established in 2019.
13 people died in the accident
The Tamil Nadu government has sent senior officials to the accident site to assist in the rescue operation.
Here is the list of people who were on board the helicopter that crashed:
- General Bipin Rawat
- Madhulika Rawat
- Brigadier LS Lidar, SM, VSM
- Lt Col Harjinder Singh
- Wing Commander PS Chauhan
- Squadron Leader K Singh
- JWO that
- JWO Pradeep A
- Hav Satpal
- NK Gursewak Singh
- NK Jitender Kumar
- Vivek Kumar
- l/nk psi sharp
Five crew members were also on board the helicopter.
The crash site is in a wooded area in the Nilgiri Hills, which makes access to debris a difficult proposition. Visuals showed debris scattered across the hill and rescue teams at work battling thick smoke and fire.
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