When the chopper crashed, it was en route from the Sulur IAF base to the Defence Services College in Wellington.
The Indian Air Force says a helicopter carrying Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, killing eleven persons. The tragedy was reportedly caused by reduced visibility due to hazy circumstances.
There was no immediate word on Gen Rawat's condition, despite the IAF announcing that a Court of Inquiry investigated the mishap, which involved a Mi-17VH helicopter that took off from the Sulur IAF Station in nearby Coimbatore.
M K Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, expressed shock at the event and said there were 14 persons in the chopper, which he will see later.
The highly damaged chopper was seen on TV engulfed in flames, possibly as a result of the crash. According to reports, a terrible catastrophe was averted when the helicopter crashed far enough away from human habitation to avoid widespread casualties.
The accident site was a depressing image, with trees shattered by the impact, flames from the chopper engulfing the timber logs, resulting in billowing smoke, and employees hurrying to extinguish the fire with buckets and water hose. There were also what appeared to be several burnt bodies strewn around.
Even as rescue workers carried bodies in stretchers to be transferred through waiting ambulances, the crushed and burned remains of the ill-fated IAF chopper were strewn about the scene.
Civilians were not allowed near the disaster site. Local residents informed a Tamil television station that they heard a loud bang, which they assumed was the result of the collision, and then spotted the chopper on fire, with some of the occupants suffering major burn injuries.
All of the injured persons on board the chopper had been evacuated from the accident site, according to official sources in New Delhi. Rawat was on his way to Wellington's Defence Staff College.
Official sources in Coimbatore said four bodies had been recovered and three persons had been rescued from the wreckage of the chopper that had fallen near here in the hilly Nilgiris district's Katteri-Nanchappanchathram area.
The chopper, which was carrying a few senior officials, was flying from Sulur in Coimbatore to DSC in Wellington, where Rawat and Chief of Army Staff MM Naravane were scheduled to attend a later ceremony, according to the sources.
According to them, the chopper crashed in a woodland location due to limited visibility caused by heavy fog. The clearing of the area was seen to include both rescue and army forces.
To treat the injured, medical teams from nearby Coimbatore, including burns specialists, have been dispatched to Coonoor. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin will pay a visit to Coonoor before flying to Coimbatore later that day.
"I am profoundly surprised and dismayed on hearing the army chopper carrying CDS General Bipin Rawat and 13 others had met with a mishap near Coonoor," he wrote in a tweet.
"Even as I rush to the scene, I've instructed the local administration to provide all necessary assistance in rescue operations," he said.
MAY YOUR SOUL REST IN PEACE SIR
