'He promised to take us on vacation,' says slain IAF man Havaldar Satpal Rai's wife

Darjeeling (WB), Dec 9: Havaldar Satpal Rai was one among the 13 people killed in the chopper crash in Tamil Nadu's Coonoor on Thursday.

A pall of gloom descended on Takdah, a sleepy hamlet in West Bengal Darjeeling district, on Thursday as locals learnt about his tragic day.

Rai was a native of Takdah and is survived by wife, a daughter and a son who is also in the Army. The helicopter crash on Wednesday killed India's first Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat, and 12 others.

Rai's distraught widow said that he had last come home during Diwali. "He was supposed to come home in April again and had promised us a vacation to some place," she said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday told Parliament that a tri-services inquiry led by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh has started the investigation into the helicopter crash.

In a statement, the Defence Minister in the Lok Sabha said that all efforts were being made to save IAF Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor of the crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, who was on life support at the military hospital in Wellington.

"A tri-services inquiry headed by Air Marshal Manavendra Singh has been ordered by the Indian Air Force. A team of investigators had reached Wellington yesterday (Wednesday) itself and started their work," Singh said.

Gen Rawat, India's first Chief of Defence Staff, his wife Madhulika and 11 other armed forces personnel

He said the last rites of the other military personnel who died in the crash will also be conducted with appropriate military honours. Lok Sabha paid tributes to the departed souls by observing a moment of silence.