New Delhi: An Indian Air Force Mi-17V5 helicopter with Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 12 others including crew on board, crashed near Coonoor in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu Wednesday.
A few hours later, the IAF confirmed in a tweet from its official handle that Gen. Rawat, his wife and 11 others had died in the crash.
With deep regret, it has now been ascertained that Gen Bipin Rawat, Mrs Madhulika Rawat and 11 other persons on board have died in the unfortunate accident.
— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) December 8, 2021
Earlier in the day, the IAF handle had tweeted confirmation that Gen. Rawat was on board the crashed chopper.
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.
— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) December 8, 2021
Rawat had survived a single engine helicopter crash in 2015 in Nagaland. He was a Lieutenant General at the time. The chopper had crashed just after take-off, around 20 feet above the ground, and Rawat had escaped with minor injuries.
But there have been numerous prominent Indian personalities who have lost their lives in air accidents, and some who survived. ThePrint looks back at a few.
Sanjay Gandhi
Sanjay Gandhi, the Congress leader and son of Indira Gandhi, was killed in an air crash in June 1980 while flying a Pitts S-2A aircraft in Delhi. Sanjay Gandhi held both a commercial pilot’s licence and an instructor’s rating, while his brother Rajiv, who later became PM, was an Indian Airlines pilot.
Madhavrao Scindia
Another senior Congressman who lost his life in an air crash was Madhav Rao Scindia, father of the current Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The senior Scindia was on the way to Kanpur in a chartered flight in September 2001, and died when it crashed near a village in Bhogaon tehsil of Mainpuri district of central Uttar Pradesh.
G.M.C. Balayogi
Telugu Desam Party leader and Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi died in a helicopter crash in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh on 3 March 2002, caused by a technical issue.
Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy died in an air crash involving a twin-engined Bell 430 helicopter in the Nallamala Hills of Andhra Pradesh in September 2009. The inquiry into the crash later revealed that the helicopter was not “air-worthy” and poor judgments were made by the pilots.
Dorjee Khandu
Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu died in a helicopter crash in May 2011 in a remote village in the state about 30 km away from Tawang near the India-China border. Khandu’s body was found five days later, after intense search and rescue operations.
Ten years earlier, Arunachal minister Dera Natung and five others were killed when their Pawan Hans aircraft crashed near Tawang in May 2001.
O.P. Jindal and Surender Singh
Noted industrialist and Haryana power minister O.P. Jindal was killed in a helicopter crash while on his way to Chandigarh from Delhi in 2005. Along with Jindal, state agriculture minister and former CM Bansi Lal’s son Surender Singh also died in the same crash.
Other notable deaths
Meghalaya community development minister C. Sangma too lost his life in a chopper crash in September 2004. Other prominent names who died in air accidents include scientist Homi J Bhabha, industrialist Ashok Birla and actress Soundarya.
Some who survived
Some prominent faces also survived air accidents, including current Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, whose chopper made an emergency landing, former prime minister Morarji Desai, Congress leaders Ahmad Patel, Prithviraj Chavan and Kumari Selja, and former Punjab deputy CM and Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.
(Edited by Shreyas Sharma)
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