New Delhi | A helicopter carrying the Chief of the Indian Military Staff, General Bipin Rawat, crashed in the southern state of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, killing at least three people, according to emergency services at the crash site.
“An IAF (Indian Air Force) Mi-17V5 (Russian) helicopter, with the Chief of the Defense Staff on board, General Bipin Rawat, crashed today near Coonoor, in Tamil Nadu, ”the Indian Air Force posted on Twitter.
“An investigation has been ordered to determine the cause of the accident,” the statement continued.
General Rawat and his wife were on board the aircraft with other officers and were heading to the Defense Services Staff College, a defense training institution, a senior army officer told AFP.
“There are three or four injured at the site of the accident but we do not know the identity of the dead”, told AFP a firefighter in charge of Coonoor.
“Some of the injured were taken to hospital,” he added, adding that around 20 fire-fighting vehicles were on hand to extinguish a fire.
Videos broadcast on Indian news channels showed the wreckage of the burning aircraft at the crash site, in a dense forest area near their destination, in the Nilgiris district.
Local media reported that the helicopter took off from Sulur Air Force base on Wednesday afternoon.
Considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, General Bipin Rawat, 63, is India’s first chief of staff, a post created by the Indian government in 2019.