As the enquiry headed by an Air Marshal commenced to find out the cause of the helicopter crash in which Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 11 others were killed commenced, the bodies of five more personnel were identified. Their mortal remains were transported to their home towns for final rites on Saturday.
Given the nature of mishap in which the bodies were severely burnt, the authorities managed to identify the bodies of General Rawat, his wife and his staff officer Brigadier L S Lidder on Thursday. All three were cremated on Friday. The process of identifying the other bodies through DNA was on.
Giving details here on Saturday, sources said efforts to "positively identify" remaining mortal remains are continuing, they said.
The armed forces personnel whose bodies were identified in the last few hours are Junior Warrant Officer (JWO) Pradeep, Wing Commander P S Chauhan, Junior Warrant Officer Rana Pratap Das, Lance Naik B Sai Teja and Lance Naik Vivek Kumar. The mortal remains of the five personnel were released to close family members on Saturday, they said.
The bodies were taken to the home towns of the five personnel by air for last rites with appropriate military honour, the officials said.
The unidentified bodies were kept in the mortuary of the Army Base Hospital, Delhi Cantonment.
The Army and the Air Force carried out the identification of the bodies keeping in mind the sensitivities and emotional well-being of the family members. The personnel whose bodies are yet to be identified are Lt Col Harjinder Singh, Squadron Leader K Singh, Havildar Satpal, Naik Gursewak Singh and Naik Jitender Kumar.