Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has expressed deep shock at the deaths of India's Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and other co-passengers in a chopper crash in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
India's top military commander, his wife and 11 others died after the Mi-17V5 helicopter came down in the hilly terrain of the Nilgiris in the state's Coonoor district and burst into flames on Wednesday morning.
In a condolence message sent to his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar, Momen conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family members of Rawat and the co-passengers.
A senior Air Force officer accompanying the four-star general survived the fatal crash but sustained severe burn injuries. He has been identified as Group Capt Varun Singh and is now undergoing treatment at the Military Hospital in Wellington.
Bipin Rawat, 63, was appointed as India's first chief of defence staff in January 2019.
General Rawat has had a chequered career in the armed forces spanning over 40 years, rising from the rank of a junior commissioner officer to the Indian Army chief and eventually the first head of the tri-services – the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force.
