General Bipin Rawat , his wife and 11 others died in Helicopter Crash

 

 

 

Photo by Hindustan times 

 

The only survivor of the horrific crash that killed Indian General CDS  Bipin Rawat and 12 others is group captain Varun Singh, who is being treated at Wellington Military Hospital.

India’s first chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat, 63, his woman Madhulika Raje Singh Rawat and 11 others were died on Wednesday noon in an Indian Air Force eggbeater crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu in one of the worst air accidents involving India’s top military brass, the IAF verified six hours after the crash. 

They are survived by their two daughters Kritika and Tarini.

The only survivor of the incident, group captain Varun Singh, is being treated at Wellington Military Hospital. Rawat survived a Cheetah eggbeater crash on February 3, 2015 in Nagaland’s Dimapur. He was a assistant general at that time.
 
“ With deep guilt, it has now been ascertained that Gen Bipin Rawat, Mrs Madhulika Rawat and 11 other persons on board have failed in the unfortunate accident,”
The dead include Rawat’s defence adjunct Brigadier LS Lidder and his staff officer Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh, officers said. Fourteen people, including the eggbeater’s crew, were on board the Russian- origin Mi-17V5 copter.

I am shocked and anguished over the untimely demise of Gen. Bipin Rawat and his wife, Madhulika ji. The nation has lost one of its bravest sons. His four decades of selfless service to the motherland was marked by exceptional gallantry and heroism. My condolences to his family.

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) December 8, 2021

 

The horrific Mi17 crash near Coonoor occurred 58 years after senior officers were killed in a helicopter crash near Poonch on November 22, 1963. Major General Daulat Singh, Lieutenant General of Army Bikram Singh, Deputy Air  Marshal EW Pinto, Major General KND Nanavati, Brigadier SR Oberoi and Flight Lieutenant SS Sodhi died in the crash. The Air Force announced that an investigation had been ordered to determine the cause of the accident. The helicopter was en route from  Sulur Air Base to DSSC in Wellington. The CDS and his wife had flown to Sulur from New Delhi in an Embraer jet from the IAF VVIP communications squadron. Rawat assumed the role of India's first CDS on December 31, 2019, after serving as Chief of the Army for a full three-year term. He become the longest-serving four-famous person fashionable withinside the country's navy history. Rawat led the Army's Theatrical Initiative to improve the effectiveness of the military and reshape the conduct of future operations.

Photo by BBC

From changing the face of UN peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to launching the largest military restructuring operation to close supervision of India's two publicly acknowledged surgical attacks on a Foreign soil Rawat, a rare non-golfing general, brought tremendous experience to the table as India's first CDS. Those who have known the general for  decades say Rawat always thought outside the box, made tough decisions, and was unafraid to question the status quo. The son of a three-star general, Rawat joined the military in December 1978 after graduating from the  Indian Military Academy based in Dehradun, where he was awarded the coveted sword of honor for his outstanding performance. He was responsible for the Gorkha 5/11 rifles.

The National Democratic Alliance authorities outmoded  pinnacle generals — Lieutenant Generals Praveen Bakshi and PM Hariz — to employ him military chief. Rawat’s revel in in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast tipped the scales in his favour.