Chopper crashes, IAF carries on rescue mission
26 Jun 2013 5:13 AM IST
Eight were declared dead, at the time of going to press, from the crash of the Russian made Mi-17 V5, which was inducted into the Air Force just a year back.
The helicopter which crashed on Tuesday evening was returning from Kedarnath to Guptkashi en route to the base camp of rescue operations – Gauchar. The operations have been hit by inclement weather since Monday though the chief of air staff Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne has said: ‘Our helicopter rotors will not stop churning till such time we get each one of you out.’
Meanwhile, the deposition made by the Uttarakhand and the central governments before the Supreme Court on Tuesday gave a broad outline of one of the biggest rescue operations, code named Op Rahat, which has been launched to evacuate persons stranded due to flash flood in Uttarakhand. According to the action taken report (ATR) filed in the court, the government agencies, by 23 June, have rescued 96,500 people so far. The rest will be rescued in the next 72 hours, the government told the Supreme Court bench of Justice A K Patnaik and Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Tuesday.
According to the ATR, a total of 1189 air sorties have been done by the Indian Air Force while the army did 419 sorties. It said free transport is being arranged for all people to reach their destination and more than 4000 vehicles have been deployed to bring the stranded people to Haridwar and Dehradun. It said 80 per cent of telecommunication facilities have been restored and 77 satellite phones have been distributed for rescue operations. The ATR said there is no shortage of food items and essential supplies in the affected areas and 50,000 bottles of water, 50,000 packets of biscuits and 45,000 ready to eat packets have been made available in the areas affected.
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