New Delhi, Dec 8 (TIWN) India's first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat (63), died along with his wife and 11 others, when their IAF Mi-17 crashed in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

This was the first fatality of a top defence official in nearly three decades - and has curious coincidences with the previous incident.  The previous incident of a senior Indian Army officer dying in a helicopter crash occurred in 1993 - and it also involved an Mi-17 helicopter, bad weather and the officer being accompanied by his wife.  Eastern Command chief, Lt Gen Jameel Mahmood, died in a helicopter crash in May 1993, while on a visit to Sikkim.  His wife, Military Assistant Col M.N. Ahmed, Lt Lakshman Tyagi, orderly Naik G. Thyagarajan, his personal bodyguard Havildar S. Vasudevan, and the IAF crew were also killed.