“I heard a loud sound of a helicopter around my house and when I looked to see what happened, the chopper was already on fire after hitting a tree. It hit another big tree within a few seconds and I saw people falling from the helicopter. Then, the helicopter burst into flames.”
These are the words of Krishnaswamy, a resident of Nanjappanchathiram in Upper Coonoor in the picturesque Nilgiris district where an IAF Mi-17V5 helicopter crashed killing Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika, and 11 others.
Krishnaswamy, who was one of the eyewitnesses to the tragic incident, said he was shocked to see people falling from the chopper and rushed to inform his neighbour Kumar, a young man, who in turn alerted the police and fire service personnel on his mobile phone.
Prakash, a resident of Burliyar village, also spoke on the same lines, adding that the weather was misty when the chopper crashed in the hills, which is part of the Western Ghats.
“I saw the helicopter flying low over Burliyar village. The chopper hit a tree and caught fire. The site where the chopper crashed is a farm owned by the Horticulture Department. The area has over 200 houses. The weather was misty,” he said. Prakash also claimed only the pilot was pulled out alive and all others died on the spot.
Nilgiris is surrounded by thick forests and the chopper crashed just 10 minutes before it was to reach its destination in Wellington, where the CDS was to deliver a lecture at the Defence Services Staff College. As soon as the news trickled in, as many as eight 108 emergency ambulance vans reached the spot over a few hours to join the rescue mission, and six doctors from the Coimbatore Medical College also reached Coonoor.
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Villagers said civilians escaped miraculously as the distance between the crash site and their houses were just a few hundred metres. Since the majority of the residents of the hamlet work in tea estates, only a few people were in their homes when the crash took place.
“We could see nothing at all after the chopper burst into flames. All that was visible was the raging fire and a cloud of thick smoke. But I saw the helicopter crash. I saw three people falling off the chopper and it was terrible to witness the crash,” Krishnaswamy added.
Other eyewitnesses said they saw heavily charred bodies of the army officers being pulled out from the crash site by police and fire services personnel. Tamil Nadu Forest Minister K Ramachandran said the
Vasugi, a resident of the area, said police and fire services personnel rushed to the spot within minutes and launched the rescue operations. “We could see charred remains of army personnel being pulled out of the helicopter. The fire raged for over two hours, and all we could see from a distance was just plumes of smoke,” she said.
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