India’s first Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat, wife Madhulika , 11 others armed forces personnel died in IAF helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, Brigadier LS Lidder, the military advisor to the Chief of Defence Staff, and staff officer Lt Col Harjinder Singh, Wing Commander PS Chauhan, Squadron Leader K Singh, JWO Das, JWO Pradeep A, Havildar Satpal, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitender Kumar, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar and Lance Naik Sai Teja were killed when their IAF Mi-17 helicopter crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district on the afternoon of December 8, 2021.

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat was alive when he was pulled out of the crashed IAF Mi-17V5 chopper, a fireman who was part of the rescue team said. The rescuer said the late CDS also told his name when he was being evacuated from the wreckage of the IAF helicopter. Besides, CDS Rawat, another person was also extricated from the wreckage, who was later identified as Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor in the accident.

The fireman claimed that when CDS Rawat was pulled out of the wreckage of the Mi-17V5 helicopter, he told his name and died on his way to the hospital, a report published in ToI stated.

A local, who resides near the crash site, said that he saw 12 bodies scattered near the site of the accident. Speaking to IANS, Ravi, the eyewitness of the crash, said he heard a loud sound and saw a helicopter in flames coming down. Soon, he along with a few nearby residents rushed to the accident spot and found 12 charred bodies.

“We rescued two persons but they were struggling for life. An ambulance took them to the Army hospital, Wellington,” he said.