In a tragic incident, an IAF Mi-17V5 helicopter, with CDS General Bipin Rawat, his family members and staff on board crashed in Tamil Nadu's Coonoor, IAF confirmed via Twitter.
The mishap took place at the Nanjappanchathiram area amid the heavy mist. The chopper was on its way from the Sulur IAF base to the Defence Services College (DSC) at Wellington when it crashed.
Prime Minister Modi and Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh have been briefed on the incident.
The crash took place shortly after the Russian-made Mi-17 V5 chopper took off from the Air Force base in Sulur, Coimbatore, for Wellington in the Nilgiri Hills.
Questions have been raised in the past regarding the unusual mishaps in the past few years of the military-grade choppers and aircrafts. Earlier last week, the Central government informed the Parliament that seven IAF aircraft have crashed in the last two years.
“A total of seven aircraft of Air Force have crashed in the last two years, including the Mirage 2000 which crashed recently in Madhya Pradesh,” Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said in the Lok Sabha.
Earlier in July 2019, then Minister of State for Defence, Shripad Naik, presented the data from 2014 to 2019 in the Parliament.
According to the data, there have been more than 10 accidents every alternate year in five years from 2014-15 to 2018-19, adding 46 personnel were in total killed in defence air crashes from 2014-15 to July 2019.
Here is the list of all military planes/choppers crashes and accidents that occurred in the past years:
A Mirage 2000 aircraft of the IAF on a training sortie crashed in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district on October 21, 2021.
A MiG-21 fighter aircraft of the IAF crashed during a training mission in Rajasthan’s Barmer on August 25, 2021.
An IAF pilot was killed in a MiG-21 aircraft crash in Punjab’s Moga district on May 20, 2021.
A group captain of the IAF was killed in an accident involving a Mig-21 Bison aircraft in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior on March 17, 2021.
A MiG 21 Bison aircraft crashed while landing in Rajasthan’s Suratgarh on January 5, 2021.
Earlier in February 2019, two aircraft of IAF's aerobatic team Surya Kiran crashed after hitting each other mid-air, killing a pilot and injuring two who ejected to safety during a rehearsal for the Aero India show.
Earlier in October 2017, at least seven people died when an Indian Air force chopper crashed during a training sortie near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.
Earlier in December 2015, 10 Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were killed when a paramilitary plane carrying them crashed near the Delhi airport.
General Rawat, 63, took charge as India's first Chief of Defence Staff in January 2019. The position was set up with the aim of integrating the three services - the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.
Gen Bipin Rawat was commissioned on December 16, 1978, into the Fifth Battalion of the Eleventh Gorkha Rifles of the Infantry. While graduating from the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, he was awarded the coveted 'Sword of Honour'.
