Indian Chief of Defense Staff Bipin Rawat was killed after a Mi-17V5 military helicopter that was carrying senior defence officers crashed at Coonoor in Tamil Nadu, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday.
"Deeply anguished by the sudden demise of Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 other Armed Forces personnel in an extremely unfortunate helicopter accident today in Tamil Nadu. His untimely death is an irreparable loss to our Armed Forces and the country," Singh tweeted.
A total of 14 people, including Rawat, his spouse, security commandos and IAF pilots, were on board the chopper. Thirteen people have died, only one Air Force officer, Group Capt. Varun Singh, survived in the tragic accident. He is being treated in a military hospital.
The official reason behind the accident has to be revealed yet, but a source in the Russia aviation industry said that the chopper crashed due to poor weather conditions.
"The reason for the crash of the Mi-17V-5 helicopter in India was weather conditions. Due to heavy fog, visibility has reached a critically low level," the source said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier called an emergency Cabinet meeting.
The Chief of Defence Staff was en route to Wellington in Coonoor from the Indian Air Force base in Sulur, according to reports.