Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening arrived at the Palam airbase to his pay respects to Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 others killed in the tragic helicopter crash near Tamil Nadu's Coonoor were brought to the national capital on Thursday.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval also paid their tributes and met the families of CDS General Bipin Rawat and the 12 others.
The 3 service chiefs - Army Chief Gen MM Naravane, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and IAF chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari also paid their last respects.
Meanwhile, the last rites will be held in Delhi on Friday with military honours. A funeral procession will start from Kamraj Marg to Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment.
Besides, the government today ordered a 'tri service' enquiry into the accident.
The enquiry will be headed by Air Marshal Manvendra Singh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Training Command.
Informing about the timeline of the fatal crash, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Lok Sabha said that the IAF chopper lost contact with the Sulur base control room at around 12.08 pm, after it took off at 11.48 am from Sulur airbase.
Both Houses of the Parliament observed two-minutes silence on the demise of 13 people.
Those who died in the crash include General Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, his Defence Adviser Brigadier Lakhbinder Singh Lidder, Staff Officer Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh and nine other Armed Forces personnel including the Air Force helicopter crew.
Their names are Wing Commander Prithvi Singh Chauhan, Squadron Leader Kuldeep Singh, Junior Warrant Officer Rana Pratap Das, Junior Warrant Officer Arakkal Pradeep, Havildar Satpal Rai, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitendra Kumar, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar, Lance Naik B Sai Teja.
(With ANI inputs)
