India’s Defense Chief Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 other people were killed after a military helicopter they were traveling in crashed in southern India on Wednesday, the Indian Air Force said.

Rawat, 63, was appointed as India’s first Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in late 2019.

The accident took place around noon near the town of Coonoor, and the dead include four crew members of the Mi-17V5 helicopter, the Air Force said in a tweet.

Rawat was traveling from an Indian Air Force base in Sulur to the Defense Services Staff College in Wellington in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu to deliver a lecture. Hill station Coonoor is along the flight path.

The Air Force said that Rawat, who had previously served as India’s Chief of Army Staff, was traveling in an Mi-17V5 helicopter. India has dozens of the Russian military chopper that are widely used by the military as well as top government ministers visiting defence locations.

“This is a safe, proven helicopter, I have traveled on it in difficult situations,” former army chief J.J.Singh said.

Video footage from Reuters partner ANI and local media showed rescue workers dousing steaming wreckage of the mangled chopper in a wooded area.

“An inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident,” the Air Force said in a tweet.
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