- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday (9) informed the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, that Indian Air Force group captain Varun Singh, the sole survivor of the military helicopter crash that took the lives of India’s chief of defence staff Bipin Rawat, wife Madhulika and 11 personnel on Wednesday (8), is on life support at the Military Hospital in Wellington in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
“Group Captain Varun Singh is on life support in Military Hospital, Wellington. All efforts are being made to save his life,” Singh said.
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According to the sources, the health condition of Singh, a Shaurya Chakra awardee, is critical but stable and he can be shifted from the Military Hospital to the Command Hospital in Bengaluru. Singh was recently conferred the award by Indian president Ram Nath Kovind for act of exceptional gallantry.
India chief of defence staff Bipin Rawat, wife killed in helicopter crash
Meanwhile, the mortal remains of those who were killed in the tragedy were brought to Madras Regimental Centre from the Military Hospital.
The aircraft was on its way to Wellington from Sulur where Rawat was to address the faculty and student officers of the Staff Course.
The air force has ordered an inquiry into the accident.
Rawat was appointed as India’s first chief of defence staff in December 2019 and took over on January 1, 2020.
