Black Box Of Helicopter That Crashed With General Bipin Rawat On Board Recovered

Mumbai: The black box of the helicopter that crashed with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 13 others has been recovered. General Rawat, his wife and 11 others died in the crash in Tamil Nadu.

Official sources said the black box was retrieved in the wake of officials expanding the search area from 300 meters to one km from the accident site.

Official sources said two boxes, including a flight data recorder, were recovered from the site of the incident. They are likely to be taken to Delhi or Bengaluru to ascertain the cause of the accident.

The black box will provide critical data on the chain of events that led to the tragedy on the hills on Wednesday when the 63-year old Rawat, the country’s first CDS, his wife and 11 others were killed after the Mi-17VH helicopter they were travelling in crashed and went up in flames, leaving only one survivor.

Rawat was on his way to the Defense Services Staff College (DSSC) in Wellington to address faculty and student officers of the Staff Course when the fatal accident occurred in the Katteri-Nunchappanachatram area.

Official sources said the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal VR Choudhary on Thursday visited the helicopter crash site and inspected the area along with senior officers.

Meanwhile, a video showing a helicopter disappearing from the air near a hilly area is doing the rounds on social media, linking it to Wednesday’s crash.

However, there was no confirmation from the IAF about the viral video, which was said to be taken by a tourist.

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