CDS Gen Bipin Rawat Killed: Tri-Service Probe Ordered Into Chopper Crash: Rajnath

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New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while addressing the Parliament on the chopper crash that killed 13 people, including Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, said on Thursday that a tri-service inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident.

Singh said that the inquiry would be headed by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh.

Addressing the Lok Sabha, Singh said that the IAF Mi-17V5 helicopter carrying Gen Rawat and others had left Sulur IAF station in Tamil Nadu around 11.48 am and was supposed to land at the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) in Wellington at Udhagamandalam at 12:15 pm.

The ATC at Sulur lost contact with the chopper at around 12:08 pm. Later, some locals saw the chopper in flames and rushed to the accident site. The local administration sent a rescue team to the crash site which tried to evacuate the survivors. The injured were sent to a military hospital in Wellington, he said.