Efforts to get to the root cause of the crash of the IAF chopper that killed Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 11 armed forces personnel, got a boost on Thursday with the recovery of the black box of the IAF chopper that crashed. The recovered black box has been taken away for further investigation. Official sources said the black box was retrieved in the wake of the authorities expanding the search area from 300 metres to 1 km from the accident spot. A team of the state’s Forensic Science Department also visited the crash site.
A “tri-service” inquiry has been ordered regarding the crash of the Indian Air Force Mi-17V5 helicopter that claimed the lives of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 other defence personnel, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The inquiry will be headed by Air Marshal Manvendra Singh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Training Command. Giving his statement in the Upper House a few minutes after the proceedings started in the House for the day, Singh said: “An inquiry in the incident has been ordered by Indian Air Force, headed by Air Marshal Manvendra Singh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Training Command.” Explaining the sequence of events, the Defence Minister said, “With profound grief and heavy heart, I stand to convey the unfortunate news of the crash of the military helicopter in the noon of December 8, 2021, with India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat onboard.” General Rawat was on a scheduled visit to Defence Services Staff College, Wellington to interact with the student officers, Singh said. “The Air Force Mi-17V5 helicopter took off from Sulur Air Base at 11:48 am yesterday (Wednesday) and was expected to land at Wellington by 12:15 pm,” said the Minister.
Air Traffic Control at Sulur Air Base lost contact with the helicopter at approximately 12.08 pm, he added. Subsequently, Singh said, a few locals spotted a fire in the forest near Coonoor and rushed to the spot where they observed the wreckage of the IAF helicopter engulfed in flames. “Rescue teams from the local administration in the vicinity reached the site and attempted to recover the survivors from the crash site. All those recovered from the wreckage were rushed to the Military Hospital, Wellington,” Singh said. Latest reports have confirmed that out of the total 14 persons on board the ill-fated helicopter, 13 have succumbed to their injuries, he said.
Both Houses of Parliament observed a two-minute silence. In the last two years, Gen Rawat had carried out extensive groundwork to establish on initiating tri-services reforms.
Rajnath Singh on Thursday called on President Ram Nath Kovind and briefed him about the chopper crash. The President is the Supreme Commander of the armed forces. Official sources said Singh apprised President Kovind about the accident as well as the situation arising out of it.