No, This Photo Does Not Show CDS Bipin Rawat's Helicopter Crash In Coonoor

A photo from 2019 of an Indian Army helicopter after it made an emergency landing in Jammu is viral with a false claim that it is an image of the Indian Air Force chopper which crashed in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu with Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and 13 others on board.

According to media reports, CDS Bipin Rawat, his wife, defence assistant, security commandos and an IAF pilot were on board the Mi-series chopper when it crashed between Coimbatore and Sulur in Tamil Nadu. The IAF in a statement on Twitter confirmed that Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 11 others died in the crash.

The IAF said an inquiry has been ordered into the accident and added that Rawat was on a visit to Defence Services Staff College, Wellington (Nilgiri Hills) to address the faculty and student officers of the Staff Course on Wednesday.

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The caption with the viral photo reads, "Prayers for CDS Bipin Rawat ji, his family and all defence officers traveling along."

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Also Read: Military Helicopter Carrying CDS Gen. Bipin Rawat Crashes In Tamil Nadu

Fact Check

BOOM ran a reverse image search found the same photo published by NDTV on October 24, 2019. According to the report, an Indian Army helicopter had to make a force-landing in Jammu's Poonch district on October 24, 2019 after developing a technical snag.

A keyword search on Twitter using the above information showed a tweet by news agency ANI with more images from the incident.

ANI tweeted the photos with the text, "Jammu and Kashmir: Army's Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) had made an emergency landing in Poonch district earlier today. All seven passengers on-board, including Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, are safe."

We also found a tweet from TOI+ published on October 24, 2019 which carried a video of the incident. The video can be seen below.

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