Black Box of ill-fated IAF chopper carrying Gen Rawat recovered

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi honoured Late Gen.Bipin Rawat, India's first-ever Chief of Defence Staff, who's life came to a tragic end in a Helicopter crash in Tamil N

adu along with his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 other armed forces personnel on Wednesday (08).

The lone survivor group captain Varun Singh among the 14 passengers onboard is in critical condition at the Military hospital in Wellington, Tamil Nadu.

In a tweet Prime Minister Modi conveyed his condolences.

Indian Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi called the accident an "unprecedented tragedy".

Messages of condolence have been coming in for the General from around the world. 

Top military officers from neighboring Pakistan have also expressed condolences over the "tragic death".

Gen Rawat was on his way to the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, to address the faculty and students when the crash took place.

The military plane carrying Gen Rawat's remains is scheduled to land on Thursday (09) evening at New Delhi's Air Force Technical Airport. Thereafter the body will be transported to the Army Hospital in Dhaula Kuan in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, The convoy of ambulances transferring the remains of the victims met with an accident en route to the Sulur airbase.

The last rites of the late Chief of Defence Staff, and other deceased will be performed with military honours

.

The 

bodies of General Rawat and his wife Madhulika will be escorted to their official residence by military bands of all three Indian armed services Thereafter, will be taken to Brar crematorium in Dhaula Kuan in New Delhi to be cremated. The funeral is scheduled to take place at 4 pm on Friday (10).

A full investigation with regard to the helicopter crash is being carried out by the Indian tri-services, according to Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The "Black Box" of the ill-fated Indian airforce(IAF) helicopter that crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday afternoon has been retrieved on Thursday (09), Indian defense Officials stated. The flight data recorder as well as the cockpit voice recorder of the Mi-17V5 has been recovered from the crash site.