Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 15 (IANS): The former Commanding Officer of Group Capt Varun Singh, was disturbed on hearing about the passing away on Wednesday of his subordinate, who was the lone survivor of the chopper crash in which Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 other armed personnel were killed.

Interacting with IANS, Air Commodore B. Balachandran (retd) said Varun Singh was trained in the Fighter Squadron 'Hawkeyes' in 2005-06, when he joined as a freshly commissioned Flying Officer and began his flying training in a MiG-21.

"He passed out with flying colours and was always found to be very diligent and was a keen learner. It was this keenness which helped him to be selected for further career progression on the Jaguar aircraft. It's really sad to hear that he is no more as many wished he will come back and for someone who trained him, it's even sadder," he said.

A day after the crash, Varun Singh was rushed to Bengaluru for treatment as his condition was stated to be very critical throughout.

The Group Captain was recently conferred with the Shaurya Chakra by President Ram Nath Kovind for his act of exceptional gallantry.

He was in the chopper along with General Rawat, who was on a visit to Defence Services Staff College at Wellington in Nilgiri Hills to address the faculty and student officers of the Staff Course, when it crashed.