The black box of the Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper that crashed with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and others on board has been recovered and taken away for further investigation. The black box was retrieved from 300 metres to one km from the accident spot.

A tri-service inquiry has been ordered by the Indian Air Force into the tragedy. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has told Lok Sabha that the inquiry will be headed by Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Training Command Air Marshal Manvendra Singh. Indian Air Force officials said that Air Marshal Manvendra Singh is a helicopter pilot himself.

Thirteen of the 14 passengers on board the Mi-17V5 chopper that crashed near Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor, including Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Bipin Rawat, have died.

India’s top-most defence official, Gen Rawat, was on board the helicopter that took off from the Sulur IAF Station in Coimbatore for the Defence Staff College in Wellington.

According to the IAF, Group Captain Varun Singh is the sole survivor of the crash. He is under treatment at the Military Hospital in Wellington.