As the tri-service inquiry into the horrific crash of IAF chopper on December 8 that killed CDS General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 others have started, the Indian Air Force has appealed to everyone to avoid uninformed speculation into the matter.
In a tweet posted by the official Twitter account of the Indian Air Force on December 10, it has been said that the inquiry into the accident would be completed expeditiously and the probe will bring out the facts related to it will. Therefore, in order to respect the dignity of the deceased, uninformed speculation may be avoided, the IAF said.
The appeal by the IAF comes after various theories related to the probe have started to appear on media and social media. Some people are seeing a conspiracy behind the crash, alleging that it was not an accident but an attack. Indian Army Brigadier Sudhir Sawant said that this is not an accident but a conspiracy, and demanded that a detailed inquiry should be done.
Several media houses ran stories asking whether the incident was an accident or conspiracy. The reports asked if Pakistan or China is behind the crash, fuelling speculations and rumours.
Others speculated that it could be due to engine failure or other technical issues, or it could be due to the fog which resulted in poor visibility.
Some people have started to question the reliability of the Russian designed Mi17 chopper, and comparing it with MiG-21 which has the record of a high number of crashes in India. However, the helicopter is not an obsolete aircraft like MiG-21 like many people are alleging. Actually, Mi17-V5 is a very modern aircraft, and all the past crashes of this helicopter in India were due to external factors like extreme weather in Himalayan terrain, collision and a missile attack.
The probe team will look into all possible angles and come with the most probable reason after a detailed investigation.
Rakshya Mantri Rajnath Singh had informed the Lok Sabha yesterday that the Indian Air Force (IAF) has ordered a tri-service inquiry into the Mi17-V5 chopper crash, which will be led by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh. The inquiry team had reached the crash site at Wellington in Tamil Nadu on the day of the accident itself, and had already started the investigation.
The black box of the Mi17-V5 helicopter has already been recovered by the probe team yesterday. The black box contains the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. The analysis of the data in the box will help the probe to understand what had happened to the ill-fated helicopter carrying the Chief of Defence Staff.
Apart from the parts of the crashed chopper that will provide vital forensic information, the tri-service probe team will also have the eyewitness account of the locals who saw the crash to ascertain the cause of the crash. One local had recorded a video of the final moments of the video, which showed the helicopter flying through dense fog with very low visibility. Reportedly, the person who had recorded the video had already appeared before the Coimbatore city police for inquiry.
The person said that the whole area was veiled by a thick fog, and they heard a loud sound around 10 minutes after capturing the chopper on video.