In an extremely tragic incident, India lost its first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash.
An IAF Mi-17V5 chopper, with General Rawat on board and 13 others – five crew and nine passengers – including his staff and his wife Madhulika Rawat, crashed in Tamil Nadu's Coonoor district at around noon on Wednesday, 8 December, with one lone survivor.
A tweet posted by the IAF's Twitter handle at 6:03 pm on 8 December, confirmed the fatalities.