08:16

CDS chopper crash: Some unanswered questions

One of the big questions that is facing the armed forces as well as the nation is -- how a helicopter carrying a very very important person - India's Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat -- crashed resulting in the death of several persons.

"Comprehensive checks of the helicopter would have been done. There would have been a standby helicopter as well. The weather condition would have been checked. In this case, if the weather at Wellington was marginal, they may have decided to make an attempt and then call it off," said a former official of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The official said technical snag or weather could have been the factor due to which crash happened.

According to him, if all things were normal, the one possibility is that, as the chopper was close to Coonoor, it would have been flying low and or maybe flown into the hill, to duck beneath the clouds.

08:15

Chopper crash: Heard a loud sound, helicopter was in flames, says eyewitness

'I heard a loud sound of a helicopter around my house and when I looked to see what happened, the chopper was already on fire after hitting a tree. It hit another big tree within a few seconds and I saw people falling from the helicopter. Then, the helicopter burst into flames.'

These are the words of Krishnaswamy, a resident of Nanjappanchathiram in Upper Coonoor in the picturesque Nilgiris district where an IAF Mi-17V5 helicopter crashed killing Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika, and 11 others.

08:13

NDA batchmate remembers 'visionary' Gen Bipin Rawat, says he was apt as India's first CDS

08:08

Nepal PM Sher Bahadur Deuba extends condolences over the demise of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and other Armed Forces personnel in a helicopter crash in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu yesterday

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