Dec 10, 2021: An Indian Air Force helicopter that crashed, killing Defense Chief General Bipin Rawat and 12 others, lost contact with air traffic control seven minutes before landing and was engulfed in flames in a forested area.
No distress call before it was found in flames in a forested area, India’s defence minister has said.
In a statement in India’s Parliament on Thursday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh did not indicate any SOS by the helicopter crew or bad weather in the region in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
A total of 13 people were killed in the helicopter crash. After the crash, it is being speculated whether it was really an accident in which the Chief of Indian Army Staff died or something else, the investigation team has started its work trying to piece together the sequence of events.
According to Indian media, the pilot of the helicopter did not make any emergency call, the last message from the pilot was that we are now on the helipad.
In his brief statement in Parliament, Singh said the Mi-17 V5 helicopter took off at 11.48 am on Wednesday from the Sulur Air Base. The base lost contact with the aircraft seven minutes before it was scheduled to land at a hillside military area at 12.15 pm.
The helicopter that crashed was the Mi-17 and is considered to be the safest helicopter with two engines. Indian Prime Minister Modi also travels in it. This heli is used for military campaigns all over the world. It has a seating capacity of 36 people.
On the other hand, the question is being raised as to whether the route was cleared by the Indian Air Force before General Bipin Rawat’s heli took off, as the Indian Air Force had cleared the route by sending spy planes before any VVIP movement.
According to Indian media, an official of Sulur Air Base said that according to the protocol, two helicopters of the Indian Air Force were sent to assess the weather to find out where the helicopters went.
Eyewitnesses at the scene of General Bipin Rawat’s helicopter crash say they did not see or hear any other helicopters there, according to S. Ramesh, a retired Indian Air Force officer. Kumar says that usually when the President or the Prime Minister visits, four helicopters are with the main helicopter.
Rajnath Singh said a military inquiry committee started work hours after the crash. Media reports said voice and data recorders, the black box, have been recovered from the site.
The Russian-made Mi-17V5 helicopter was on its way to a military staff college in southern India’s Tamil Nadu state when the air force helicopter they were travelling in came down near the town of Coonoor on Wednesday.
The reason for the crash was not immediately known. Television images showed plumes of smoke billowing from the debris as local residents tried to put out the fire and remove bodies from the wreckage.
On the other hand, there is a speculation in military circles inside India over the hail crash and possible death of the Chief of Defense Staff.
Rawat, a veteran of counterinsurgency operations, previously served as chief of army staff and also commanded forces in Indian-administered Kashmir and along the frontier with China.
The US Embassy in New Delhi extended its condolences, calling Rawat “a strong friend and partner of the United States, overseeing a major expansion of India’s defence cooperation with the US military”.
In September, Rawat spent five days travelling in the US as part of a counterpart visit with General Mark Milley to discuss military developments and opportunities to enhance cooperation between the two countries, the embassy said.
Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, expressed his condolences.
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Eyewitness says, Indian Gen Bipin Rawat’s chopper was ‘flying unusually low’ before crash
