First responders from the Coonoor Fire Station have recalled the horrific scenes they witnessed at the site of the IAF helicopter crash which led to the deaths of Chief of Defence Staff General Rawat, his wife and 11 defence personnel on Wednesday.
Station Fire Officer (Coonoor), R. Mohan, told The Hindu the fire station received a call from the district SP’s office, following which an Emergency Rescue Tender (ERT) vehicle was quickly dispatched to the accident site. “However, as the site of the accident was in a wooded area where the fire tender couldn’t pass, we were forced to dispatch a smaller vehicle so that it could get close to the wreckage,” he said.
N.C. Muralidharan, fireman and driver at the Coonoor Fire Station, said the rescue personnel arrived at the site of the crash within 10 minutes of being alerted. “We saw residents trying their best to douse the fire using water poured into buckets and paint cans. We quickly attached a hose to a nearby pipe and began fighting the blaze to bring it under control,” Mr. Muralidharan said.
“We also began surveying the area to find any victims away from the crash site,” he said.
M. Kumar, the leading fireman at the station, said they saw two persons who were still alive, around 10 to 20 meters away from the crash site. “We were unable to identify them but managed to rescue them, and we rushed them to a hospital,” he said.
The Fire and Rescue Service personnel at the Coonoor Fire Station assisted in retrieving all 14 persons from the accident site and carried them in stretchers to the nearest area accessible to ambulances. “This is the first time I am witnessing a tragedy of such magnitude. Our hope is that our actions could have helped save at least one person’s life,” said another fireman from the Coonoor Fire Station.
