Helicopter crash claims top general, wife, 11 more

Gen. Bipin Rawat, India’s highest-ranking military official, leading efforts to modernize the country’s armed forces, died in a helicopter crash Wednesday along with his wife and 11 others, officials said.

His death was confirmed in a statement by the country’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, after hours of uncertainty as senior officials rushed to the crash site in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and the victims were taken to a nearby hospital. Video showed the wreckage in a forested slope, with rescue workers trying to douse the flames.

The loss of Rawat, who as the chief of defence staff co-ordinated the various wings of India’s armed forces, comes at a particularly strained moment, as India’s military finds itself stretched by threats on two of its borders as well as the impact of a slowing economy.

In addition to the constant warfooting with India’s arch enemy, Pakistan, tens of thousands of reinforcement troops remain in high altitudes in the Himalayas for a second winter after deadly skirmishes with Chinese forces last year.

Tributes poured in for Rawat, 63, soon after his death was announced. “A true patriot, he greatly contributed to modernizing our armed forces and security apparatus,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. “India will never forget his exceptional service.”

The Indian air force, in a statement, said Rawat had been on his way to the Defense Services Staff College in Wellington, Tamil Nadu, to address the faculty and students, when his helicopter went down near Coonoor, a hill station in the state, around noon local time. There was only one survivor, the statement said.