Ooty : The country pays teary homage to its top General Bipin Rawat and eleven others including his wife who died in IAF helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor. The bodies of Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, wife Madhulika Rawat, six soldiers and five crew have been laid at Ooty Wellington Madras Regimental Centre for public respects. The mortal remains were brought in by defence convoy from Wellington hospital at 11 am.
Lives lost to the tragedy include Brigadier LS Lidder, Lt. Col. Harjinder Singh, NK Gursevak Singh, NK Jiendrakumar, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar, Lance Naik Bsai Thej, Havildar Sathpal, Junior Warrant Officer and Kerala naitve A Pradeep. The lone survivor, Group Captain Varun Singh, is in critical condition at military hospital in Wellington. Other Updates :
Defence Minister Briefs Parliament
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh briefed Lok Sabha on the copter crash and offered tributes to the deceased General, his wife and other 11 personnel who died in the accident. The mortal remains of victims will be brought to Delhi later today and funerals held with military honors on Friday, the minister said.
Tri-Service Enquiry Into The Crash
Indian Air Force(IAF) has ordered a tri-service enquiry into the military chopper crash. The investigations will be led by Air Marshal Manveendra Singh. The probe team reached Wellington yesterday within hours of the crash, the minister told Lok Sabha.
Search On For Black Box
Massive hunt is underway for the Flight Recorder or the Black Box of the ill-fated copter with search area expanded from 300 meters to one km of the crash site. The box is crucial in piecing together the events that led to the tragedy.
