Deaths Come Riding a (Military) Chopper: My Condolences

[Sukla Sen]

My sincerest condolences for all the deceased.

More so for the lone civilian in the lot - who met with such an unscheduled, abrupt and shocking end, Mrs Madhulika Rawat.

<<General Bipin Rawat, India’s first chief of defence staff, died on Wednesday after an Indian Air Force helicopter carrying him crashed in Tamil Nadu. Thirteen of the 14 people on board, including Rawat’s wife also died in the accident.

The only survivor, an Air Force group captain, is being treated for injuries.

The helicopter, which took off from Sulur air base in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday afternoon, was on its way to the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, nearly three kilometres north of Coonoor, where the helicopter crashed.

The Air Force said that an inquiry on the accident was underway. Videos from the crash site showed the helicopter in flames in a densely forested area as rescuers tried to save people.>>

(Excerpted from: <https://scroll.in/latest/1012380/iaf-helicopter-crash-at-least-five-dead-cds-bipin-rawats-condition-not-known>.)

Also:

<<Apart from Gen Rawat and his wife, Madhulika Rawat, there were 12 others, some of them senior army officers, in the Mi-17V5 helicopter that crashed in the hilly terrains of Coonoor. All but one is reported to have died. The mishap has national security implications of a high order and the questions surrounding it will, hopefully, be answered in the coming days. Gen Rawat was on an official visit and was going from the Sulur airbase to the Wellington cantonment at Ooty [emphasis added]. Initial reports have indicated that the copter crashed either due to inclement weather or because it hit a tree. The first question that would arise is whether such weather had been taken into consideration when the short-duration trip was planned. There will be other questions when the details of the crash emerge.>>

(Excerpted from: <https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/first-edit/a-tragedy-and-a-national-loss-1058947.html>.)