Chopper crash: Sole survivor Captain Varun Singh likely to be shifted to Bengaluru for treatment

Team Udayavani, Dec 9, 2021, 1:28 PM IST

Image Source: DHNS

Bengaluru: Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor of the horrifying chopper crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu, is likely to be shifted to Command Hospital in Bengaluru for further treatment.

Singh is now battling for life at a military hospital in Wellington.

“Group Captain Varun Singh is on life support in the military hospital at Wellington and all efforts are being made to save his life,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said while apprising Parliament on the crash.

Group Captain Singh was on board the Russian-made chopper as the liaison officer for the visit of Gen Rawat, India’s senior-most military officer, to the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington.

Group Captain Singh received Gen Rawat at the Sulur airbase from where the entourage was heading towards Wellington in the chopper.

His father, Colonel (retd) KP Singh had served in the Army Air Defence (AAD).

Group Captain Singh was conferred with the Shaurya Chakra for displaying exemplary composure and skill when his Tejas aircraft developed the technical snag on October 12 last year.

“Despite being in extreme physical and mental stress in an extreme life-threatening situation, he maintained exemplary composure and recovered the aircraft, thereby exhibiting exceptional flying skill,” this award citation said.

Singh’s family originally hails from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh.

Talking to PTI over phone, Group Captain Varun Singh’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.”

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday told Parliament that a tri-services inquiry led by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh has started investigation into the helicopter crash that killed Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and 12 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.