THE LAST, LINGERING HOPE -- GROUP CAPTAIN VARUN SINGH WITH 45% BODY BURNS BATTLES ON

THE LAST, LINGERING HOPE -- GROUP CAPTAIN VARUN SINGH WITH 45% BODY BURNS BATTLES ON

The lone survivor hopeful of the Coonoor Copter Crash is Group Captain Varun Singh. He is on life support system with 45% body burns. If he does survive, he will act as the vital human link to the crash and help solve the mystery that is now shrouding this tragic episode.

What had exactly happened? Why the crash? The Black Box or Flight Data Recorder has been recovered and will reveal facts. But Group Captain Varun Singh who is a Fighter Pilot of the Indian Air Force and was special escort for CDS General Bipin Rawat remains the vital link to solving the case.

While our hearts go out in prayer for his recovery, we must also spare a thought for the agony he must be suffering physically and the arduous battle his body will have to wage against near impossible odds of survival. And yet he will survive to conquer and live on a legendary figure to tell the tale of this horrific affair that will go down in the history of the Defence Services as a moment of reckoning.

General Rawat had initiated integration procedures in the Defence Services and India, following on, will emerge the stronger for it. His martyrdom is a severe blow to our defence objectives but we will now have to deal with it and emerge stronger that we may fulfil the aspirations of our first CDS and carry his vision of a strong integrated defence force forward.

Meanwhile, our concentration as a nation must be on sending out powerful thought currents for the survival of Group Captain Varun Singh.

Jai Hind!

Written by Sugata Bose

Photo : top - martyred CDS General Bipin Rawat; bottom - battling Group Captain Varun Singh.