Lone survivor of IAF chopper crash hospitalised in Bengaluru

Group Captain Varun Singh is on life support, with around 45 per cent burns, according to sources

Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor of the helicopter crash which claimed the lives of General Bipin Rawat and 13 others, was rushed to the Indian Air Force’s Command Hospital in the city on Thursday evening.

Military sources said he had been flown to HAL Airport from the hospital at Wellington, located in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district. He arrived at the Command Hospital at around 4 pm. A top team of experts is said to have started their medical investigation at the hospital.

Sources said the Group Captain had suffered severe burns (up to 90%) on his body and that his urine output was nil. While his vitals were normal, he was also said to be unconscious.

Officials from the Ministry of Defence and the Indian Air Force said the Group Captain is on life-support. His condition was described as “critical” as of Thursday evening.

The IAF declined to comment on the medical specifics of the case. However, an officer said the decision to transfer Singh from Wellington, where he was being treated at the Military Hospital, to Bengaluru could have been a matter of necessity. “A military hospital is a smaller unit than a Command Hospital and if the medical experts [at Wellington] felt that his condition can be better treated at another facility with improved facilities,” the officer said.

The decision to transfer could have been due to the severity of injuries. Speaking as an independent expert, Professor Dr Ramesha K T, an authority on burns and Head of the Department of Plastic Surgery at Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, noted that the lack of urine was a red flag. “Severe burns results in burn shock or ‘hypovolemia,’ which causes fluid loss in the body, leading to lack of urine,” he said.