Coonoor, 9 December
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Sundararajan and military personnel, among others, on Thursday paid floral tributes to Chief of Defense Staff General Bipin Rawat and 12 others who were killed in a helicopter crash of the Indian Air Force here on December 8.
The mortal remains of General Rawat and others were later taken by road to Coimbatore from where they would be taken to New Delhi.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh informed Parliament that India’s first CDS will be cremated with full military honours.
He said other personnel killed in the accident would also be cremated with due military honours.
On Thursday, Stalin, Sundararajan, state ministers, senior army officers and its veterans laid wreaths and paid floral tributes at the bodies of the dead at the Madras Regimental Center in Wellington, near here. Guard of honour was also given to the deceased.
The mortal remains of the accident victims in tricolour-wrapped coffins were earlier brought to the venue in decorated military trucks.
Stalin, dressed in a black muffler, garlanded and paid floral tributes to General Rawat and others, and later spoke briefly to senior army officers present there. His cabinet colleagues KN Nehru, MPs Saminathan and K Ramachandran, senior state government officials and police officers and army personnel also paid tributes to the accident victims.
General Rawat (63), his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 others were killed in a helicopter crash near here on Wednesday. PTI