Air Marshal Manvendra Singh is heading the Tri services inquiry into the IAF-Mi-17V5 helicopter crash incident that had killed India’s 12 brave sons including top commander Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 top soldiers in Kateri near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on fateful Wednesday.
Manvinder Singh (see intro photo) is commander of Indian Air Force training command and a helicopter pilot himself, the source revealed. The black boxes and data recorder have been recovered from the wreckage site, where locals of Kateri village were the first to spot the crash. The helicopter hit a tree, which was found broken on spot, revealed the visuals and reports from the spot.
The helicopter crash killed 11 brave soldiers. They included four Indian air force personnel- Wg cdr PS Chauhan, Sqr leader K Singh, JWO Rana Pratap Das, JWO Pradeep A. And the seven army personnel -Naik Jitender Kumar (3, para SF), Lt Col Harjinder Singh, Brig LS Lidder Hawaldar Satpal Raj, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar (I Para SF), NK Gursewak Singh (9, Para SF), Lance Naik BS Teja, 11 Para (SF).
Recalled Rajvardhan Rathore an MP and former minister about his NDA batchmate and friend Brig Lidder (in photo with his wife) while expressing his condolences to the illfated soldiers , "We were trained at NDA together, we fought terrorists together. It is a great loss for the army, India has lost the bravest soldier. Brig Lidder was a caring husband, dotting father and I have lost a friend".
Lone survivor of the crash Group Captain Varun has been put on the life support system at the military hospital Wellington is reported to be stable as the latest report. One of the PSOs of Gen Bipin Rawat was Vijay Kumar hails from Jaisinghpur in Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told the parliament today that the helicopter took off from Sulur base at 1148 am on Wednesday, but the Air Traffic Control lost contact with the helicopter at 12.08 PM, just seven minutes before it was to land at the Wellington helipad at 12.15 PM. The locals near the crashing site gave information of the crash. A high level inquiry committee has been constituted and it has visited the spot to find the truth behind the crash, he said.
The mortal remains of the brave soldiers are kept at Sulur for the last tributes before they would be lifted to Delhi, for giving full military honours to the brave soldiers to perform the last rites.
Subhramaniam Swami, the veteran MP has trashed the TV channels showing a video of a helicopter hovering over the hill with few people coming out from the railway track as of one of the helicopters in Seria in his tweets on social media.
Mourning the deaths of the 13 brave soldiers including Gen Bipin Rawat and his wife, the netizens have bombarded the IAF and Defence Ministry with queries, seeking answers to many questions related to the recuring incidents of crash that have been taking a heavy toll of India's pilots, brave soldiers and resources and even top commander of the likes of Bipin Rawat over the years. These need to be addressed and taken care of to put in place a fool- proof air-traffic security system as the accident has zero survival rate when the aircraft or helicopter crashes, they argued.
The crash incident came coincidently when the Russian President V Putin was in India with both countries signing a bilateral agreement for strategic partnership that has also given rise to all kinds of speculations doing the rounds in media. These also need to be addressed, said the analysts.
They also raise some "conspiracy angle into the crash of the helicopter as it was one of the safest IAF helicopters carrying CDS and his soldiers. "When the CDS is not safe, can our Prime Minister, President and other VVVIPs traveling in helicopters are safe?, they questioned.
To give it as a basis for concern or support, they are of the view that Gen Bipin Rawat was first to talk openly asserting that the "biggest threat is not Pakistan, but China". They are drawing parallels between Gen Bipin Rawat's helicopter crash incident and that of Gen Shen Yiming, a Taiwanese military officer, who also served in Republic of China air force General and commander of ROC air force. Gen Shen had also died in an aircrash on January 2, 2020 while on a routine mission. In both cases, beneficiary is China", reasoned the strategists.
"If the visibility was poor, the experienced pilot would have chosen to abort or would have gone at a higher altitude rather than bumping blindly into the mist or fog hitting a tree or so", they questioned. "It could be a sudden obstruction created by some terror group or something, and this angle should also be probed", they pointed out.
They argued the IAF Mi-17V5 helicopters are used by many countries and are one of the best choppers. "It has altitude meters, infra red signals, It is not a toy that simply strikes tree and fell down. Considering the "magnitude of the accident involving the CDS and his top soldiers on board", it needs an impartial and high level investigation, involving National Investigating Agency (NIA)", they demand.
They urged the Tri-service special investigation team to look into the hardware and software glitches, maintenance of equipment before flying, human interference in any parts by remote signal and activation to avoid the air crash. If there was a mist or fog that blurred visibility then the pilot did not choose a safe landing" needs to be probed", they pointed out.
(Kuldeep Chauhan is Editor and publisher, HimbuMail, voice of Himalayan People)
