Last rites of 6 soldiers held, all TN crash victims identified
NEW DELHI: The bodies of 10 more soldiers, among the 13 people killed in the December 8 Coonoor helicopter crash, were identified on Saturday, officials familiar with the development said. While mortal remains of six of them, identified by Saturday morning, were flown to their hometowns in special flights; the bodies of the remaining four, identified later in the day through DNA testing, will be handed over to their families on Sunday, the officials said.
The personnel whose bodies were flown home on Saturday are Wing Commander Prithvi Singh Chauhan, the pilot of the MI-17V5 that crashed, Squadron Leader Kuldeep Singh, the co-pilot, Junior Warrant Officer Rana Pratap Das, Junior Warrant Officer Arakkal Pradeep, Lance Naik
Vivek Kumar and Lance Naik B Sai Teja. Their mortal remains were flown to Agra, Pilani,
Bhubaneswar, Sulur, Gaggal and Bengaluru, respectively.
The bodies that were identified later in the day were those of Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh, Havildar Satpal Rai, Naik
Gursewak Singh and Naik Jitendra Kumar. While Lt Col Singh’s funeral is likely to be conducted at Brar Square in Delhi Cantonment on Sunday, the remains of the other three soldiers will be flown to their hometowns.
The 13 people killed in the crash included India’s first chief of defence staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Raje Singh Rawat and the CDS’S defence assistant Brigadier LS Lidder. Lt Col Singh was Rawat’s staff officer.
Rawat, his wife and Lidder were on Friday cremated with military honours at Brar Square in two separate solemn ceremonies steeped in military tradition, with top government officials attending the heartwrenching final send-off and thousands of men, women and children lining the road leading to the crematorium to pay their last respects.
While Kritika and Tarini lit the funeral pyre of their parents, Bipin and Madhulika, 16-yearold Aashna performed the last rites of her father Lakhbinder Singh Lidder in ceremonies filled with emotion, honour and pride. In a picture of courage and dignity, Lidder’s wife Geetika was seen comforting Kritika and Tarini at the funeral, even though her own husband was cremated a few hours earlier and his pyre was still burning.
The sole survivor of the crash, Group Captain Varun Singh, is still on life support at the IAF Command Hospital in Bengaluru. Defence minister Rajnath Singh is monitoring the group captain’s condition, and is in touch with his family.
Air Marshal Manavendra Singh, the Air Officer Commanding-in-chief of IAF’S Bengalurubased Training Command, is heading the probe into the crash.