New Delhi: After the sudden demise of the country's first CDS Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat, along with 11 others, in a helicopter crash on Wednesday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has ordered a tri-service inquiry into the shocking accident. The probe will be headed by Air Marshal Manvendra Singh.
What is a tri-service inquiry? As Brig Dr B K Khanna tells ETV Bharat, “In such kind of an inquiry, selected military personnel from all the three wings-- Army, Navy and Air Force--are included in the committee to conduct the inquiry. The inquiry will also include a thorough investigation of the black box and the remaining debris of the helicopter. Normally such kind of an inquiry includes four important points: Human error, mechanical error, weather conditions and terror attack."
“Normally a chopper crash inquiry is done by the Air Force officials only, but since the list of deceased includes the CDS, a tri-service inquiry has been ordered,” he added. However, in the basic investigation that started on Thursday, the black box, which is also known as a flight recorder of the helicopter, was recovered from the crashed Indian Air Force Mi-17V5 helicopter.
The black box will play an important role in dismantling the crucial details of the final minutes before this tragic accident. The sources have disclosed that the black box was recovered after the authorities concerned expanded their area of search from 300 metres to one km of the accident spot.
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