Know About The Group Captain Varun Singh, Sole Survivor of Chopper Crash

According to a government official, he is on life support and fighting for his life with 80-85% burn injuries. The winner of the Shaurya Chakra valour award, Singh, made it through the night on Wednesday, and his recovery is being prayed for at the DSSC. The doctors treating Singh have stated that the next 48 hours will be crucial.

At the time when the IAF Mi-17V5 helicopter crashed, it was on its way from the Sulur IAF facility in Coimbatore to the Defence Staff College in Wellington. Among those killed in the crash were Brigadier LS Lidder, the military adviser to the Chief of Defence Staff, staff officer Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh, Wing Commander PS Chauhan, Squadron Leader K Singh, JWO Das, JWO Pradeep A, Havildar Satpal, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitender Kumar, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar, and Lance Naik Sai Teja.

Singh was a newcomer to the DSSC and was recently promoted from Wing Commander to Group Captain.

The military physicians performed the post-mortem at the Military Hospital in Coonoor in the presence of a state government doctor and police authorities.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said in one of his Twitter posts "Praying for the speedy recovery of Gp Capt Varun Singh, who is currently under treatment at the Military Hospital".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he is "deeply anguished" by the news. CDS Rawat as an "outstanding soldier" and a "true patriot, and served with utmost diligence." He added.

The previous year, in October Singh also had a near escape from death when a system failure on a Light Combat Aircraft he was flying during descent resulted in total loss of control of the aircraft. It was a once-in-a-lifetime tragedy that had never happened before. There was a quick loss of altitude, with the plane tossing up and down erratically and reaching G limits.

Soon after, at a height of roughly 10,000 feet, the plane lost control again, with severe movements and uncontrollable tilting. The pilot was free to ditch the aircraft in such a situation. Faced with the possibility of losing his life, he demonstrated amazing courage and skill in safely landing the fighter plane.

Singh was awarded the Shaurya Chakra for his best level of professionalism, calmness, and swift decision-making.

He kept remarkable calmness and restored control of the aircraft despite being under great physical and mental stress in a life-threatening scenario, demonstrating exceptional flying skills "According to his Shaurya Chakra citation.