India defence chief among 13 dead in helicopter crash

Indian defence chief General Bipin Rawat was among 13 people killed in a helicopter crash on Wednesday, raising questions over the future of military reforms he was leading.

Rawat was India's first chief of defence staff, a position that the government established in 2019, and was seen as close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The 63-year-old was travelling with his wife and other senior officers in the Russian-made Mi-17 chopper, which crashed near its destination in southern Tamil Nadu state.

Modi said Rawat was an outstanding soldier and "true patriot" who had helped modernise the country's armed forces.

"His passing away has saddened me deeply," the prime minister wrote on Twitter. "India will never forget his exceptional service."

Strategic analyst and author Brahma Chellaney tweeted that Rawat's death "couldn't have come at a worse time" when "China's 20-month-long border aggression has resulted in a warlike situation along the Himalayan front".

Footage from the crash showed a crowd of people trying to extinguish the fiery wreck with water buckets while a group of soldiers carried one of the passengers away on an improvised stretcher.

Rawat was headed to the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) to address students and faculty from the nearby Sulur air force base in Coimbatore.

The chopper was already making its descent at the time of the crash and came down around 10 kilometres (six miles) from the nearest main road, forcing emergency workers to trek to the accident site, a fire official said.

An eyewitness at the scene said he had seen passengers falling from the helicopter before the crash, and that one person had crawled out from the wreckage.

The sole survivor, a captain working at the DSSC, was being treated for his injuries at a nearby military hospital, the air force said.