NEW DELHI: A video shot just a few seconds before the IAF’s Mi-17 chopper crash that killed Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Bipin Rawat and 13 others near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu has surfaced on Thursday.
The 20-second video shows the Mi-17 chopper roaring into the skies and heading towards Wellington just seconds before it crashed. In the video, a group of locals passing through the forest at the same time can be seen wondering over the loud sound of the chopper that crashed just a few seconds later. Twitter users claimed that this is the same Mi-17 chopper that was carrying CDS Rawat, however, there is no official confirmation yet on this video.
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Gen Bipin Rawat, India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, his wife Madhulika and 11 other armed forces personnel died on Wednesday after the military helicopter they were travelling in crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu.
The lone survivor, Group Captain Varun Singh, is currently under treatment at a military hospital in Wellington, it said. 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 around 12.22 pm, they said. Rawat had survived a helicopter crash six years ago, in 2015, when he was a Lt General.
The Chief of Defence Staff was scheduled to deliver a lecture at Defence Services Staff College in Wellington. Those who were killed in the crash included Brig LS Lidder, the military adviser to the Chief of Defence Staff, and staff officer Lt Col Harjinder Singh.
The other personnel killed are Wing Commander PS Chauhan, Squadron Leader K Singh, JWO Das, JWO Pradeep A, Havildar Satpal, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitender Kumar, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar and Lance Naik Sai Teja.
Meanwhile, the bodies of those who died in the military chopper crash had been brought to Madras Regimental Centre from Military Hospital, Wellington in Nilgiris district
Read More:- Gen Bipin Rawat, wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 others dead in chopper crash
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CDS Rawat and his wife will be cremated at Delhi Cantt on Friday.
