Indian Chief of Defence Staff, Gen.  Bipin Rawat died after a military helicopter crashed in Tamil Nadu due to poor weather conditions, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday.Earlier, a source from the Tamil Nadu police told Sputnik that two people died and three people suffered injuries in a military helicopter crash.

“We are Deeply anguished by the sudden demise of chief of defence staff, his wife and 11 other armed forces personnel in an extremely unfortunate helicopter accident today in Tamil Nadu.

“His untimely death is an irreparable loss to our armed forces and the country,’’ Singh tweeted.

The Indian Air Force, in turn, tweeted that Rawat and ‘’11 other persons on board died in the unfortunate accident .’’