New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha on Thursday that IAF Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor of the military chopper crash in Tamil Nadu in which Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and 12 others were killed, is on life support in Military Hospital at Wellington.

"Group Captain Varun Singh is on life support in Military Hospital, Wellington. All efforts are being made to save his life," the Defence Minister said.

According to the sources, the health condition of the Shaurya Chakra awardee is critical but stable and he can be shifted from the Military Hospital, Wellington to the Command Hospital in Bengaluru.

Group Captain Varun Singh was recently conferred with the Shaurya Chakra by President Ram Nath Kovind for his act of exceptional gallantry.

Meanwhile, the mortal remains of those killed in the crash on Wednesday were brought to Madras Regimental Centre today from Military Hospital, Wellington in Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu this morning.
 

General Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat were among 14 people on board the helicopter that was flying from Sulur to Wellington when it crashed near Coonoor.
 

General Rawat, India's first CDS, was on a visit to the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington to address the faculty and student officers of the Staff Course.

The Indian Air Force has ordered an inquiry into the crash. General Rawat was appointed as India's first Chief of Defense Staff on December 31, 2019, after his retirement as Chief of the Army Staff that month. He was commissioned into the Indian Army in December 1978.