Chennai: The bodies of 13 people, including Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife, and 11 armed personnel, who were killed in a helicopter crash at the Kateri park near Coonoor, were being shifted to Sulur Air Force Station near Coimbatore.
Enroute to the Sulur Air Force station, people stood on the roadsides and showered flowers on the ambulances carrying the bodies.
The bodies have been shifted from the Madras Regimental Centre (MRC) in Wellington where Telangana Governor and Puducherry Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and senior military officials paid their last respects to the departed bravehearts.
The distance from the MRC Wellington to Sulur Air Force station is 87 km and the road traffic was diverted to prevent any disruptions during the transportation.
The bodies will be flown from Sulur Air Force station to the respective native places of the crash victims. The bodies of General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat will be flown to New Delhi and will be kept at their official residence at Kamaraj Marg.
Prime Minister Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, other political leaders, and Armed Forces personnel are expected to pay their last respects to General Rawat in Delhi.
The Defence Minister has already announced in Parliament that the bodies of all those dead in the air crash would be given full state honours.