Chopper crash: Bodies of Gen Rawat, others to be brought to Delhi today, funeral on Friday

General Bipin Rawat and his wife, who died in a chopper crash alongwith 11 others, on Wednesday, will be cremated on Friday in Delhi Cantonment.

Their bodies will arrive in the national capital in a military plane by Thursday evening.

The Mi-17 V5 chopper carrying 14 people crashed shortly after it took off on Thursday morning from an Air Force base in Sulur near Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore.

The General was heading to the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington to address the faculty and students.

It was making its descent and would have landed in 10 more minutes when it came down, barely 10 km from a road. The Air Force has ordered an Inquiry into what happened.

Also Watch: Chopper crash: General Rawat was found alive, died on way to hospital, says report

Those killed in the crash included Brig LS Lidder, the military adviser to the Chief of Defence Staff, and staff officer Lt Col Harjinder Singh.

The other personnel killed are 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 Prime Minister-led Cabinet Committee of Security met in the evening and paid glowing tributes to Gen Rawat.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said he was "deeply anguished" by the sudden demise Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 others in an "extremely unfortunate helicopter" accident in Tamil Nadu.

"Gen Bipin Rawat, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) was on a visit to Defence Services Staff College, Wellington (Nilgiri Hills) to address the faculty and student officers of the Staff Course today," the IAF said in a statement.

"With deep regret, it has now been ascertained that Gen Bipin Rawat, Mrs Madhulika Rawat and 11 other persons on board have died in the unfortunate accident," it said.

The IAF had confirmed about the accident around 2 pm, saying the Mi-17V5 helicopter with Gen Rawat on board met with an accident near Coonoor.

Also See: CDS Chopper crash: Black box found, Air Force Chief visits crash site