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Chopper crash: Defence minister Rajnath to brief Parl, Stalin to leave for Coimbatore soon
According to reports, Singh is monitoring the situation and has briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the crash.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh will issue a statement in Parliament on Thursday on the IAF helicopter crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu with chief of defence staff Gen Bipin Rawat on board.
According to reports, Singh is monitoring the situation and has briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the crash. He is unlikely to visit the crash site at the moment. A meeting of senior officials of the defence ministry is underway.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin will leave for Coimbatore at 5pm and head to the crash site in Nilgiris district. IAF chief Vivek Ram Chaudhuri is also flying to the crash site.
Further reports suggested 14 passengers, including the crew, were on board the ill-fated chopper of whom four persons were killed, while others were rescued in severely injured conditions.
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The rescued have been taken to government and military hospitals nearby. The IAF said a Court of Inquiry has been ordered into the accident, involving a Mi-17VH chopper that took off from the Sulur IAF Station in nearby Coimbatore.
The Chief of Defence Staff was on his way to the Defence Staff College in Wellington.
The helicopter crashed in the Katteri-Nanchappanchathram area near Coonoor in the hilly Nilgiris district.
(With inputs from bureau and agencies)
