No SOS before chopper crash killed Indian military chief

ASHOK SHARMA
Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s defense minister says a helicopter that crashed and killed the military chief, Gen. Bipin Rawat, and 12 others lost contact with air traffic control seven minutes before it was supposed to land and sent no distress call before it was found in flames. In a statement in India’s Parliament, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh did not indicate any SOS by the helicopter crew or bad weather in the region in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The lone survivor of Wednesday’s crash, an air force captain, is being treated in a military hospital. The reason for the crash was not immediately known. Prime Minister Narendra Modi says Rawat had contributed greatly to modernizing the country’s armed forces.