The Indian Air Force reported that the Indian Chief of Staff, General Bipin Rawat, was killed in an accident in helicopter today, Wednesday, in South India.
“We report with great regret that it has been established that the disaster resulted in the deaths of General Bipin Rawat, Madhulika Rawat, his ‘wife’ and 11 other people on board,” reads in a statement released by the Indian Air Force Press Office. on his Twitter page.
For its part, the “Reuters” agency quoted a government source according to which at least 13 people were killed among the 14 who were aboard a helicopter carrying the Indian Chief of Staff, General Bipin Rawat, who crashed today in the south of India.
An Indian source said a military helicopter carrying the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army, General Bipin Rawat, crashed Wednesday in southern India, killing 13 people. The fate of General Rawat is not yet known.
The Indian Air Force tweeted: “A Mi-17F5 helicopter carrying Chief of Defense General Bipin Rawat crashed today (Wednesday) near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu.”
#Clock: The military helicopter crashes in Ooty of TamilNadu
CDS Bipin Rawat, his staff and some family the members were in the mi-series helicopter that crashed between Coimbatore and Sulur in Tamil Nadu. Search and rescue operations initiated from nearby bases: Sources photo.twitter.com / Vtlm2yOJJD
– Times of India (@timesofindia) December 8, 2021
The Press Trust news agency of India said the helicopter was in trip from an air base at the National Defense College when it crashed near the city of Kunur in Tamil Nadu.
The Air Force did not say whether Chief of Staff General Rawat was injured in the incident.
A senior army officer explained that General Rawat and his wife were in the helicopter along with other officers headed to Defense College.
“There are 3 to 4 injured also at the crash site, but we do not know the identity of the dead,” a rescue team official in Konnor told AFP.
“Some of the wounded have been brought in hospital, “he added, explaining that about 20 fire brigade vehicles were in the area to put out a fire.
Video footage published by televisions showed the helicopter wreck, which caught fire at the scene of the accident in a densely wooded area near its final destination in the Nilgiris region.
THE media locals reported that the helicopter took off from an Air Force base in Solor on Wednesday afternoon local time.
THE media locals reported other officials were accompanied from Rawat when the plane crashed in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
And General Bipin Rawat, 63, who is close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is India’s first chief of cabinet after the Indian government created this position in 2019.
Rawat assumed this position last year after he retired from the post of army chief.
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