News Analysis India

Tag: Army chopper crash

  • Ashes of General Bipin Rawat, wife immersed in Ganga in Haridwar

    By PTI

    DEHRADUN: The ashes of General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika were immersed in the Ganga in Haridwar by their two daughters on Saturday.

    The rituals were conducted by priests Aditya Vashisth and Parikshit Sikhola as the urns containing the ashes of General Rawat and his wife were emptied into the holy river by their daughters, Tarini and Kritika, amid full military honours.

    Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met the two sisters at the VIP ghat. He said General Rawat will forever remain lodged in people’s memory.

    India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Rawat and his wife Madhulika were killed, along with 11 others, in a tragic helicopter crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on December 8. General Rawat hailed from Saina village in Uttarakhand’s Pauri district.

  • IAF chopper crash: 3 families left to grieve for an eternity

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH: Naik Gursewak Singh (35), who was serving with CDS General Bipin Rawat for three years, belonged to Punjab. He spoke to his family on Tuesday and visited them 20 days ago.

    Naik Vivek Kumar (20) was the personal security officer of the CDS. He was from Kangra in Himachal and visited home in August.

    Brig LS Lidder, Defence Assistant to the CDS, hailed from Panchkula. He was a second generation officer who had last visited his family in July this.

    Gursewak from Dode village in Tarn Taran district has five brothers and two sisters. Gursewak tied the knot about 11 years back to Jaspreet Kaur. They two daughters and a son. His father is 70. Gursewak joined the forces in 2000 and got attached to General Rawat three years ago. Before that, he was serving in Jammu and Kashmir.

    Brig Lidder was a second generation officer. He is survived by wife Geetika and a 16-year old daughter. His father Col Mehnga Singh was an army officer who died a few years back. His sister and mother left for Delhi after hearing the news.

    Vivek was from Upper Theru village. He was home for a month in August for the birth of his son. He was a para-commando. 

  • Army chopper crash: Lone survivor, Group Capt Varun Singh, being shifted to Bengaluru for advanced treatment

    By Express News Service

    BENGALURU/BHOPAL: Group Captain Varun Singh, the sole survivor of the Mi17V5 helicoptercrash in which Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 12 others were killed on Wednesday near Conoor in Tamil Nadu, is being shifted from Wellington military hospital to Command Hospital in Bengaluru. The Hospital authorities have reportedly barred entry of media persons inside the premises.

    According to sources, Group Captain Singh has reportedly suffered 80 per cent burn injuries. He is “critical, but stable”. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament that Singh is on life support and “all efforts are being made to save him”.

    Singh had gone to Sulur to receive General Rawat and escort him to the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington, where he is the SO, Directing Staff.

    ALSO READ: Sole survivor Captain Varun Singh honoured with Shaurya Chakra in August for averting Tejas crash

    Earlier in the day, the Group Captain’s father Colonel K P Singh (retired), who is a resident of Bhopal, said, “he is being shifted to Bengaluru. I have reached Wellington.” 

    Asked about his son’s condition, he said, “I can’t say anything about that…I am not sure.”

    Lt Colonel Ishan R (retired), who lives next door to Col K P Singh’s residence at Sun City on the Airport Road in the Madhya Pradesh capital, said he was hopeful the injured officer will recover.

    He said Col K P Singh and his wife Uma were in Mumbai at the place of their younger son Tanuj, who is a Lt Commander in the Navy, when they received information about the unfortunate incident on Wednesday.

    ALSO READ: Air Marshal Manavendra Singh to lead inquiry in IAF chopper crash that killed Gen Bipin Rawat, 12 others

    “I spoke to Colonel K P Singh this morning. He said his son was a fighter and will come out victorious (from the tragedy),” he said.

    He recalled that Group Captain Varun Singh had earlier survived a life-threatening emergency while flying a Tejas aircraft during a test sortie last year. For his bravery, he was awarded the Shaurya Chakra this year.

    Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday told Parliament that a tri-services inquiry led by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh has begun an investigation into the helicopter crash that killed India’s first Chief of Defence Staff Gen Rawat, his wife and 11 others.

    ALSO READ: CDS Bipin Rawat death: Timeline of the horrific chopper crash

    Singh said in a statement in the Lok Sabha that all efforts were being made to save Group Captain Varun Singh, who was on life support at the military hospital in Wellington.

    (With PTI inputs)