An army chopper carrying Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat has crashed in Tamil Nadu, a short while ago with 14 people on board.
General Rawat’s staff and family members were also among the nine people on board.
The Indian Air Force confirmed on Twitter that the Chief of Defence Staff was on the flight. He had taken a flight from Delhi to Sulur earlier today.
“An IAF Mi-17V5 helicopter, with CDS Gen Bipin Rawat on board, met with an accident today near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu. An Inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident.
Four people are dead and two have survived. Details are not known so far.
The crash took place in the Nilgiris, shortly after the Mi-series chopper took off from the army base in Sulur.
The chopper was heading to the Wellington defence establishment.
Visuals from the site of the Indian Air Force helicopter crash showed massive flames and locals helping with the immediate rescue operations. Several teams are at the site carrying out search and rescue operations. Local military officers have reached the location and were told that locals have taken two bodies with 80 per cent burns to a local hospital while more bodies were seen downhill, ANI news agency reported.