General Bipin Rawat's helicopter crash: All that is known so far

New Delhi : An Indian Air Force helicopter carrying General Bipin Rawat crashed on Wednesday near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu.

CDS Rawat, his wife Madhulika and his staff members were on board as he was going to give a lecture at Defence Staff College in Wellington in Coonoor district. There was no immediate information on his health condition as IAF said a Court of Inquiry has been ordered into the accident.

What led to the accident?

The prime reason behind the accident is yet to be announced, but there are some reports which suggest that the accident happened due to bad weather condition. The helicopter crashed into a forest due to poor visibility, IAF also stated.

A former Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force (IAF) told IANS that ‘based on the visuals on the news channels, the helicopter must have crashed with a strong impact and exploded’.

Speaking to a portal, an eyewitness to the incident said he heard a loud noise. “When I came outside to see what had happened, I saw the helicopter crash into a tree. There was a huge fireball and then it crashed into another tree. I saw two-three people coming out of the helicopter, they were completely burnt and started falling”, India Today quoted Krishnaswamy, the witness as saying.

Visuals available from the accident site

News agency ANI has shared initial visuals of the accident site and the IAF helicopter that was carrying Bipin Rawat and his wife.

List of people on board the chopper

14 people were on-board the military chopper that crashed b/w Coimbatore and Sulur in Tamil Nadu. They included CDS Gen Bipin Rawat, Brigadier L.S. Lidder, Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitender Kumar, Naik Vivek Kumar, Naik B. Sai Teja, Havaldar Satpal and pilots.

Meanwhile, injured officials have been shifted to the Wellington hospital in Tamil Nadu.