Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 other personnel died after the Indian Air Force chopper they were travelling in crashed near Coonoor near Tamil Nadu's Nilgiri hill district.
By DAVID IORJA, Abuja –
President Muhammadu Buhari has joined other world leaders in mourning India’s Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife, and 11 others killed in a helicopter crash.
The 63-year-old defense chief was travelling with his wife and other senior officers in the Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter, which crashed near its destination in southern Tamil Nadu state.
President Buhari, in a message to the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on Thursday, described the deaths as irreparable losses to the Indian military and the nation.
A statement by the president’s spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja quoted the Nigerian leader as saying that the late Chief of Defence Staff was widely credited with the reform of the Indian armed forces and the security apparatuses.
“On behalf of myself, the government and people of Nigeria, I convey to you our deepest condolences, to the Rawat family, the families of the deceased as well as the Indian Military and nation as you mourn the Chief of Defence Staff, his wife and 11 other fine crop of officers,” the president said.
