Helicopter carrying India’s chief of defense crashes in Tamil Nadu

The Indian Air Force confirmed a military helicopter carrying its most senior general crashed in southern Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, killing at least four people.

Reuters reported that two defence sources said they were trying to ascertain Rawat’s status following the crash near the town of Coonoor.

The air force tweeted that an IAF Mi-17V5 helicopter, with Chief of Defense Staff Gen Bipin Rawat on board, “met with an accident today near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu,” adding an official investigation into the crash has already been launched.

By mid-afternoon Wednesday, rescue operations were still underway but two people with severe burns had been taken to hospital, India’s media reported. Fourteen people are believed to have been onboard at the time of the crash.

Rawat was travelling from an Indian Air Force base in Sulur to the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu to deliver a lecture. Hill station Coonoor is along the flight path. Rawat was appointed as India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in late 2019, Reuters reported.