Coonoor (Ooty): Krishnaswamy, 68, of Nanjappasathram village, was the sole eyewitness of the helicopter crash in Coonoor, near Ooty, that claimed the lives of the Chief of the Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 Defence personnel on Wednesday noon.
Krishnaswamy, a daily wage worker, still cannot believe his eyes. He was taking water from the pipe near his house when all of a sudden he heard a loud sound and saw a helicopter crashing just 150 meters away from his home.
"I heard a loud noise and that's when I saw the copter approaching. As it was descending, it caught on fire. When I came outside to see what had happened, I saw the helicopter crash into a tree. There were huge fireballs and then it crashed into another tree and was immediately engulfed in smoke. Then the entire chopper caught on fire," Krishnaswamy gave a first-hand account of the tragedy.
"I saw four fireballs falling from the helicopter. They were people who jumped out of the burning helicopter. Soon, the helicopter struck a tree situated in a gorge in the forest area and hit the ground with a loud sound. A plume of smoke and flames rose from the helicopter. Three or four people staying in nearby houses and I rushed to the place. We couldn't do anything due to fireballs and blasts. Soon, the police and the Fire Force units came. Later, the Army also joined the rescue operations.
"The incident occurred in the forest area, almost 150 m from my house. Loud sound of the falling of big trees was heard frist. I was frightened. I couldn't realise anything at first. Though we tried to reach near the copter, the attempt failed as fire had engulfed the whole area.
"The copter and the passengers were fully burnt. After some time, the Army took control of the area. Even at the time of rescue operations, there were blasts. But none was injured. The inmates of Sathram came forward to help the rescue operators by giving them water, clothes and vessels.
"The rescue operations were carried out by the local politicians and the Ooty police in the beginning. A piece from the burning flap of the helicopter fell on the roof of the house owned by Sankar. But no casualties were reported. No one was there at the house at the time of the incident."
