Heart-wrenching scenes were seen at the Palam technical airport in New Delhi as 13 caskets, wrapped in the Indian flag, were placed inside a hangar in presence of their family members on Thursday, December 9. These were the caskets of Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, Brig LS Lidder and 10 others killed in the tragic helicopter crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, December 8. An Indian Air Force (IAF) C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft carrying the bodies from the Sulur airbase arrived at the Palam airport around 7:35 pm on Thursday.
Only three of the 13 bodies have been identified so far — General Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, and Brigadier LS Lidder. Army officials said the bodies of those identified will be released to families for last rites. The other bodies will be kept at the mortuary at the Army Base Hospital till they are identified. The other personnel who were killed in the accident are Lt Col Harjinder Singh, Wing Commander PS Chauhan, Squadron Leader K Singh, JWO Das, JWO Pradeep A, Havildar Satpal, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitender Kumar, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar and Lance Naik Sai Teja.
The bodies of General Rawat and his wife will be kept at their Kamaraj Marg residence for the general public to pay their final respects and the general public will be allowed to pay homage from 11 am to 12:30 pm on Friday, December 10. The slot between 12:30 pm and 1:30 pm will be kept for military personnel to pay their respects to the outstanding commander and his wife.
The final journey of General Rawat from his residence to the Brar Square crematorium is scheduled to start at around 2 pm. The funeral is scheduled for 4 pm. Brigadier Lidder's funeral would be held at 9 am.
The mortal remains of #CDSGeneralBipinRawat, his wife Madulika Rawat and 11 others, who lost their lives in #TamilNaduChopperCrash yesterday, placed at Palam airbase. Their families pay last respects pic.twitter.com/xJ8u17r3Hc
— DD News (@DDNewslive) December 9, 2021
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and National Security Advisor of India Ajit Doval, too, had arrived at the Palam airbase on Thursday to pay tributes to Bipin Rawat, his wife, Brig Lidder, and 10 armed forces personnel, who were killed in the Mi-17V5 helicopter crash, which is one of the biggest air accidents in India in decades involving senior military officers.
Among the 14 persons who were on board, the lone survivor, Group Captain Varun Singh, is currently undergoing treatment at a military hospital in Bengaluru.
The mortal remains of #CDSGeneralBipinRawat who lost his life in the #TamilNaduChopperCrash yesterday, being brought out of IAF aircraft that arrived at Palam airbase from Sulur pic.twitter.com/RO4ryEIA5H
— DD News (@DDNewslive) December 9, 2021