BENGALURU/BHOPAL: Group Captain Varun Singh, the sole survivor of the Mi17V5 helicopter
crash in which Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 12 others were killed on Wednesday near Conoor in Tamil Nadu, is being shifted from Wellington military hospital to Command Hospital in Bengaluru. The Hospital authorities have reportedly barred entry of media persons inside the premises.
According to sources, Group Captain Singh has reportedly suffered 80 per cent burn injuries. He is "critical, but stable". Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament that Singh is on life support and "all efforts are being made to save him".
Singh had gone to Sulur to receive General Rawat and escort him to the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington, where he is the SO, Directing Staff.
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Earlier in the day, the Group Captain's father Colonel K P Singh (retired), who is a resident of Bhopal, said, "he is being shifted to Bengaluru. I have reached Wellington."
Asked about his son's condition, he said, "I can't say anything about that...I am not sure."
Lt Colonel Ishan R (retired), who lives next door to Col K P Singh's residence at Sun City on the Airport Road in the Madhya Pradesh capital, said he was hopeful the injured officer will recover.
He said Col K P Singh and his wife Uma were in Mumbai at the place of their younger son Tanuj, who is a Lt Commander in the Navy, when they received information about the unfortunate incident on Wednesday.
"I spoke to Colonel K P Singh this morning. He said his son was a fighter and will come out victorious (from the tragedy)," he said.
He recalled that Group Captain Varun Singh had earlier survived a life-threatening emergency while flying a Tejas aircraft during a test sortie last year. For his bravery, he was awarded the Shaurya Chakra this year.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday told Parliament that a tri-services inquiry led by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh has begun an investigation into the helicopter crash that killed India's first Chief of Defence Staff Gen Rawat, his wife and 11 others.
Singh said in a statement in the Lok Sabha that all efforts were being made to save Group Captain Varun Singh, who was on life support at the military hospital in Wellington.
(With PTI inputs)