Mi-17V5 military chopper crash: How incident unfolded on the fateful day

On the fateful day of December 8, the Russian made IAF's Mi-17V5 military helicopter had just taken off from an army base in Sulur town located in the Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu. The helicopter was heading for Wellington town, less than 100kms away, where CDS General Bipin Rawat was due to visit the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC).

General Rawat was to attend a cadet interaction program that afternoon at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. Onboard the Mi-17V5 helicopter with General Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat were seven other military passengers and five crew members, including the pilot.

Speaking in Parliament about the incident, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the Air Traffic Control at the Sulur base lost contact with the helicopter at around 12.08 pm noon, just seven minutes before it was expected to land at Wellington. Rescue operations were hampered due to the crash site's hilly location, which is thick.

An eyewitness while giving his account said that he had heard a 'loud noise' before seeing the helicopter fall from the sky. "Even the electric poles shook. Trees toppled. There was smoke everywhere," the nearby resident told an international media. There was a raging flame above the trees. 

The sole survivor of the crash was Group Captain Varun Singh working at the DSSC. He is being treated for his injuries in Bengaluru hospital. Captain Varun Singh was recently conferred with the Shaurya Chakra by President Ram Nath Kovind for his act of exceptional gallantry.

The Russian manufactured IAF Mi-17V5 which are used to ferry the nation's top leaders are among the most sophisticated military transport helicopters. However, India's ageing air force fleet is often blamed for a high number of crashes.

Mi-17V5 crash incidents

As per defence reports, at least seven Russian-made IAF Mi-series helicopters have crashed in India so far.

Ministry of Defence information states that since 2012 over 30 people were fatally injured in these crashes. 

On April 03, 2018, six people on board IAF's Mi17V5 helicopter escaped unhurt, after it crashed near the Himalayan shrine of Kedarnath in Uttarakhand.

Seven military personnel were killed in a Mi-17V5 crash in the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh in 2017.  The helicopter was on a training sortie.

In 2016, another Mi-17V5 helicopter crashed immediately after take-off during a military drill in Uttarakhand.

On June 15, 2013, one of these helicopters crashed while returning from Kedarnath on a rescue mission during the Uttarakhand floods killing 8 people.

Nine IAF personnel were killed around 10 km from Jamnagar airbase in Gujarat when two Mi17V5 choppers crashed into each other on August 30, 2012.

On November 19, 2010, 12 defence personnel were killed when a Mi17V5 helicopter carrying them crashed near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.