The Mi-17V5 military helicopter
,
carrying
Bipin Rawat, his wife and other officers on board, was on its way from an air base to a military school when it crashed on Wednesday.
Pictures from the accident site showed how the locals tried to extinguish the remains from the burning wreck.
Hours after the crash, the Indian Air Force confirmed that 13 people had been killed, including Bipin Rawat.
One person has been taken to hospital with serious injuries.
"With deep regret, it has now been established that Gen Bipin Rawat, Madhulika Rawat and 11 other people on board have died in the catastrophic accident," the air force wrote on Twitter.
63-year-old Bipin Rawats was appointed the country's first defense chief in 2019 and is considered in the new post to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.