IAF chopper crash: Lone survivor Varun Singh succumbs to injuries

Bengaluru: Group captain of the Indian Air Force Varun Singh has passed away on Wednesday in the morning succumbing to injuries caused by the chopper crash that happened on December 8, 2021. On December 9, he was shifted to the Command Hospital in Bengaluru from Wellington in Tamil Nadu. The Group Captain was admitted to the hospital with severe burn injuries following the crash.

He was undergoing treatment at a military hospital in Bengaluru.

“IAF is deeply saddened to inform the passing away of braveheart Group Captain Varun Singh, who succumbed this morning to the injuries sustained in the helicopter accident on 08 Dec 21. IAF offers sincere condolences and stands firmly with the bereaved family,” the IAF said in a statement. Group Captain Varun Singh had been on life support and officials had said that his condition was “critical but stable.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences over Varun Singh’s departure.

Varun Singh was conferred the Shaurya Chakra (Indian military decoration awarded for valour or self-sacrifice) in August for averting a possible mid-air accident after his Tejas light combat aircraft developed a major technical glitch last year.

The chopper crashed when Indian chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 12 other Army officers were going to the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington in a chopper in Coonoor district.