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Tag: Bipin Rawat helicopter crash

  • CDS Rawat Helicopter crash: Black box found; PM leads nation in homage

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI/COONOOR/COIMBATORE: A tri-services Court of Inquiry (CoI) led by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh has begun probing every aspect of the military helicopter crash in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu, that killed India’s first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 12 others on Wednesday. “The inquiry team reached Wellington (Ooty) on Wednesday itself and started the investigation,” defence minister Rajnath Singh informed Parliament on Thursday.

    “With high-end technologies, vulnerabilities like external interference have crept in. The ill-fated Mi-17V-5 helicopter is one of the most sophisticated helicopters in the world. Every aspect will be looked into, including that of sabotage,” said a senior IAF officer on condition of anonymity.

    Air Chief V R Chaudhari flew into Wellington hours after the tragedy and inspected the wreckage on Thursday. The probe team retrieved parts of the crashed helicopter, including its black box, and sent them to Delhi. Some blood samples were also lifted from the site. Air Force personnel also flew a drone over the area to get a 360-degree view of the site.

    As the bodies of Gen Rawat and 12 others were transported by road from the Madras Regimental Centre at Wellington in Coonoor to Coimbatore’s Sulur airbase, people stood on either side and paid floral tribute. From Sulur, the mortal remains were flown to the Palam airbase in New Delhi, where President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid respects. The last rites of Gen Rawat and Brig Lidder will be held at Brar Square Crematorium in Delhi Cantt on Friday.

    The severity of the crash made identification of the mortal remains difficult. “Positive identification of only four mortal remains has been possible as of now (Gen Rawat, Madhulika Rawat, Brig L S Lidder and Lance Naik Vivek),” the Army informed earlier in the day. 

    Close family members are being brought to Delhi for positive identification of the bodies and DNA testing. The mortal remains will be kept at the mortuary of the Army Base Hospital till the identities are established. 

    On viral vid: ‘Has it Broken?’ ‘Yes.’

    A 19-second video, believed to capture the moments before the crash, went viral and the Nilgiris police questioned those who recorded it. In the video, a group of people, believed to be tourists, is seen walking on a railway track looking towards the sky as a loud thud is heard and a chopper is seen disappearing into the thick fog. One person in the group is heard asking “odanchinducha (has it broken)?”. In response, the man recording the video is heard saying “yes”. Sources said the video might have been shot from near the Runnymede railway station. “If it was indeed recorded from there, it could be a vital piece of evidence regarding the weather conditions at the time,” sources added.

  • IAF helicopter crash: All possible angles being probed

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The tri-services team investigating the tragic chopper crash near Coonoor that killed CDS Gen Bipin Rawat and 12 others is focusing on all possible reasons including whether a human error caused the accident, people familiar with the development said on Thursday.

    The black box, comprising the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), of the ill-fated Mi-17V5 helicopter of the Indian Air Force was recovered from the crash site on Thursday.

    While the CVR will provide details about the communication between the pilots and the air traffic control, the FDR will provide information like altitude, speed and other technical data of the chopper.

    ALSO READ: CDS General Bipin Rawat: An outstanding, forthright military commander with vision of tri-service synergy

    The Chief of Defence Staff had left the Palam airbase in an IAF Embraer aircraft at 8:47 am and landed at Sulur airbase at 11:34 am.

    He took off from Sulur in a Mi-17V5 chopper at around 1148 am for Wellington, official sources said.

    The chopper crashed at around 12:22 pm, they said, adding it was to land at Wellington at around 12:15 pm.

    ALSO READ: CDS General Bipin Rawat was making ‘necessary adjustments’ among three forces, says former Army chief Shankar Roychowdhury

    “All angles including possible human error will be investigated,” a senior military offcial said.

    In a statement in Parliament, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced ordering a tri-services enquiry into the accident.

    Air Marshal Manavendra Singh, who is heading the tri-services team investigating the tragic chopper crash near Coonoor, is a helicopter pilot and oversaw probes into various air accidents involving IAF platforms.

    ALSO READ: Madhya Pradesh loses daughter Madhulika and son-in-law General Bipin Rawat

    Several former and serving military commanders described Air Marshal Singh, currently heading the Bengaluru-headquartered Training Command of the IAF, as the “best” available air crash investigator in the country.

    Before taking the reins of the Training Command, the Air Marshal was the Director General (Inspection and Safety) at the Air headquarters and developed various protocols for flight safety while serving in the post.

    In a distinguished career spanning over 38 years, the Air Officer has flown a wide variety of helicopters and trainer aircraft.

    He is a qualified flying instructor with vast instructional experience and over 6600 hours of accident-free flying in various challenging sectors like the Siachen, the Northeast, Uttarakhand, the Western desert and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    The Air Marshal has also served in tri-service joint institutions and was Assistant Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Joint Operations) at the headquarters of Integrated Defence Staff.

  • CDS General Bipin Rawat: An outstanding, forthright military commander with vision of tri-service synergy

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A quintessential military commander, Gen Bipin Rawat possessed an uncanny understanding of geopolitical upheavals, calibrated a tri-services military doctrine to make India face myriad security challenges, and is largely credited with bringing down militancy in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir.

    As India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Rawat was tasked to bring in theatre command and jointness among the three services, and he was pushing it with a tough approach and specific timelines in the last two years.

    Known to be forthright, fearless, and blunt at times, the outstanding military commander ruffled many feathers with his controversial remarks during his tenure as Army Chief and Chief of Defence Staff. 

    ALSO READ: CDS General Bipin Rawat was making ‘necessary adjustments’ among three forces, says former Army chief Shankar Roychowdhury

    He strongly backed a policy of hot pursuit in dealing with cross-border terrorism and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir when he was the Army Chief between 2016 and 2019.

    Much before the Doklam standoff in 2017, Gen Rawat had highlighted that India’s primary and long-term security challenge would come from an increasingly assertive China and that India needed to modernise its armed forces to confront it.

    Gen Rawat had also played a major role in successfully carrying out the 2015 cross-border operation into Myanmar in response to a major ambush by Naga militants.

    ALSO READ: CCS briefed about helicopter crash leading to CDS General Bipin Rawat’s death – Official sources

    He was also part of the planning when India carried out surgical strikes against terror launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistani-Occupied Kashmir that inflicted significant casualties on the adversary.

    Gen Rawat was the Chief of Army Staff when Indian fighter jets pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist training camp deep inside Pakistan’s Balakot, and was reportedly part of the decision-making process and provided key inputs for the operation.

    The first sitting Chief of Army Staff to be appointed as the CDS, Gen Rawat had an illustrious career spanning over four decades during which he served with distinction in several conflict-ridden areas, including Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast.

    ALSO READ: Madhya Pradesh loses daughter Madhulika and son-in-law General Bipin Rawat

    In 2017, Gen Rawat faced criticism for awarding the Chief of Army Staff’s Commendation card to Major Leetul Gogoi for efforts in counter-insurgency operations.

    Gogoi had tied a man to his military jeep purportedly as a shield against stone pelters during the 2017 Srinagar by-election.

    In 2019, his comments relating to protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act triggered criticism.

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

    In September, Gen Rawat talked about the theory of “clash of civilisations” while mentioning the western civilisation and China’s growing relations with countries like Iran and Turkey A day later, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar sought to distance the government from the controversial comments and said India had never subscribed to any clash of civilisations theory.

    Rawat was born in Pauri, Uttarakhand, on March 16, 1958.

    His family had been serving in the Indian Army for multiple generations.

    ALSO READ: CDS General Bipin Rawat will be remembered as outstanding leader, says former Army chief JJ Singh

    His father Laxman Singh Rawat was from Sainj village of the Pauri Garhwal district and rose to the rank of Lt General.

    Rawat attended Cambrian Hall School in Dehradun and the St.Edward’s School, Shimla.

    He was a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington and the Higher Command Course at the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

    ALSO READ: CDS General Bipin Rawat had assured to set up ‘sainik school’ in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol, recalls his brother-in-law

    Rawat was commissioned into the 5th battalion of 11 Gorkha Rifles on December 16, 1978, As a Colonel, he commanded the 5th battalion of 11 Gorkha Rifles in the Eastern sector along the Line of Actual Control at Kibithu.

    Promoted to the rank of Brigadier, he commanded 5 Sector of Rashtriya Rifles in Sopore.

    He then commanded a multinational Brigade in a Chapter VII mission in Congo under UN mission.

    ALSO READ: CDS General Bipin Rawat paid last visit to Nagpur in November to see prototypes of weaponised drones

    After promotion to Major General, Rawat took over as the General Officer Commanding 19th Infantry Division at Uri.

    As a Lt General, he commanded III Corps headquartered in Dimapur before taking over the Southern Army in Pune.

    He was appointed as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Southern Command on 1 January 2016 and months later became the Vice Chief of Army Staff.

    ALSO READ: Tearful uncle recalls CDS General Bipin Rawat’s last visit to native village

    In December 2016, he was appointed as the 27th Chief of the Army Staff, superseding two senior Lt Generals, Praveen Bakshi and P M Hariz.

    He is survived by two daughters.

  • Coonoor crash grim reminder of similar accident in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch in 1963

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Mi-17V5 helicopter crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu that killed Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 11 others brought back memories of a 1963 chopper accident in which six officers were killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch.

    The crash in Poonch is considered as one of the major air accidents in the country’s military aviation history.

    The military officers killed in the chopper crash on November 22, 1963 were Lieutenant General Daulat Singh, Lieutenant General Bikram Singh, Air Vice Marshal EW Pinto, Major General KND Nanavati, Brigadier SR Oberoi and Flight Lieutenant SS Sodhi.

    The crash in Coonoor is also a grim reminder of the 1952 Devon crash near Lucknow, in which the Indian Army’s top leadership could have been lost.

    Lieutenant General SM Shrinagesh, the then General Officer Commanding in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Western Command, and Major General KS Thimayya, the QuarterMaster General, had miraculously survived the crash.

    Both of them went on to become Army chiefs.

    Other officials on board the chopper were Major General SPP Thorat, Major General Mohinder Singh Chopra, Major General Sardanand Singh and Brigadier Ajaib Singh.

    Major General Thorat later became the Eastern Army commander.

    The pilot of the Devon aircraft, Flight Lieutenant Suhas Biswas, was conferred with the Ashoka Chakra, the highest peacetime gallantry award, for his presence of mind in averting any loss of lives.

    In 2019, former Northern Army commander Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh and eight other armed forces personnel were injured in a chopper crash in the Poonch sector.

    The lone survivor in the Coonor crash, Group Captain Varun Singh, is currently under treatment at a military hospital in Wellington.

    Rawat had survived a helicopter crash in 2015, when he was a lieutenant general.

    The CDS was scheduled to deliver a lecture at the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington.

    Those killed in the crash included Brigadier LS Lidder, the military adviser to the CDS, and staff officer Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh.

  • Subramanian Swamy seeks probe by SC Judge into helicopter crash that killed CDS General Bipin Rawat

    By PTI

    UDUPI: Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday sought a probe by a senior Supreme Court Judge into the helicopter crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu that killed India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 others.

    The former Union Minister termed the incident as “shocking” and a big caution to national security.

    “…final report has not come, so it is very difficult for me to say anything, but the mere fact that a military aircraft in a safe zone like Tamil Nadu, has blown up, it appears to be,” Swamy said.

    ALSO READ: CCS briefed about helicopter crash leading to CDS General Bipin Rawat’s death – Official sources

    Speaking to reporters here, he said, “it is something that requires very very serious investigation…the public has to be taken into confidence, so somebody, a senior Supreme Court Judge, should investigate the matter.”

    The copter carrying General Rawat, appointed as CDS in 2019, and his entourage crashed on Wednesday, in apparently foggy conditions, killing the 13 people on board, the IAF and other officials said.

    One person survived the crash and is being treated at a hospital.

  • Army helicopter carrying defence chief Bipin Rawat crashes; TN minister says 11 dead

    By Express News Service

    COIMBATORE: As many as eleven bodies have been recovered, according to TN Forest Minister K Ramachandran, after an Army helicopter carrying Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat crashed near Coonoor in the nearby hilly Nilgiris district on Wednesday.

    Ramachandran had earlier told The New Indian Express that on the instruction of Chief Minister MK Stalin he had rushed to the accident spot and was overseeing the rescue operation. 

    He said 14 persons were in the helicopter but added defence sources have not confirmed other details.

    The Minister said the accident took place because of thick mist engulfing the area. 

    Fire Service personnel as also local people were helping in the rescue operations but as the site of the accident is narrow, they were finding it difficult to move about in large numbers, Ramachandran had said. 

    Nilgiris district collector SP Amrith too confirmed to The New Indian Express that 14 people including the Chief of Defence Staff Rawat were on board the helicopter that crashed near Coonoor. 

    The 14 included General Rawat’s wife Madhulika Rawat, Brig LS Lidder, Lt Col Harjinder Singh, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitendra Kumar, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar, Lance Naik B Sai Teja and Havaldar Satpal, according to sources.

    Defence Minister Rajnath Singh briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the crash. He also paid a visit to General Rawat’s residence. The Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari has been asked to head to the accident site.

    Army Helicopter crash near Coonoor: CM MK Stalin to reach Coimbatore this evening; to visit Coonoor; Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu holds discussions with senior officials and with Nilgiris District Collector @xpresstn @NewIndianXpress
    — T Muruganandham (@muruga_TNIE) December 8, 2021
    The Defence Minister is expected to brief parliament on Thursday.

    The chopper was on its way from the Sulur IAF base to the Defence Services College (DSC) at Wellington when it crashed.

    The first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat is an alumnus of St. Edward School, Shimla and the National Defence Academy. He assumed office as the Chief of the Army Staff on 31 Dec 2016 and was elevated to his current role on January 1, 2020.

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