INTERNATIONAL: The bodies of India's defence chief and 12 others who died in a helicopter crash laid draped in the Indian flag at a defence cantonment on Thursday, before being flown to New Delhi, where the general will be laid to rest with full military honours.

General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 12 defence personnel were en route to a military staff college in southern India when the air force helicopter they were travelling in came down near the town of Coonoor on Wednesday.

The defence chief has served the army for over four decades, would be laid to rest with full military honors, defence minister Rajnath Singh has stated. The lone survivor of the crash, an air force group captain, is on life support at a military hospital. “All efforts are being made to save his life,” Singh has announced.

Only one of the 14 on board survived the crash.

In a brief statement in parliament, the defence minister says that the remains of all the deceased would be brought to New Delhi and Rawat would be cremated with full military honours.

The ill-fated Mi-17 V5 helicopter took off at 11.48 A.M. on Wednesday from the Sulur Air Base. The base lost contact with the aircraft seven minutes before it was scheduled to land at a hillside military area at 12.15 P.M. Locals have spotted a fire in the forest near Coonoor and rushed to the spot where they observed the wreckage of military helicopter engulfed in flames.

At a colonial-era barrack in Wellington, the military cantonment town where Rawat and his entourage were headed, uniformed soldiers have carefully laid out the coffins, in the presence of officers from all three services of the Indian armed forces. Military personnel, veterans, politicians and others paid their last respects, offering floral wreaths and flowers by the coffins.