The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Tuesday completed the rescue of 35 stranded people from the Trikut Hills Ropeway Service in the Deoghar district of Jharkhand.
The operation was carried out in close coordination with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), local administration and Army.
IAF utilised two Mi-17 V5, one Mi-17, one Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and one Cheetah to fly more than 26 hours towards this effort. The operation was initiated in the early hours on Monday.
According to IAF, the contingent included five Garud commandos of the IAF, who had the daunting task of climbing onto the stranded trolleys of the cable cart, while being attached to the helicopter's winch cable, accessing it from outside, strapping up each survivor individually and getting them winched up and into the helicopter hovering overhead.
Smaller children were carried up to the helicopter by the Garuds themselves. The helicopter crew was faced with their own challenges where they had to maintain a steady hover, with practically no visual reference, in conditions of strong winds in the hilly terrain. The crew went from one trolley to the next to carry out their task, which was as risky for the crew as it was for the survivors of the mishap.
The operation, spread over two days, also saw two unfortunate incidents wherein, despite best efforts, the survivors could not be rescued safely due to the inherently difficult nature of the rescue operation.
"The IAF deeply regrets the loss of lives of these two individuals and expresses its deepest condolences to their families. The IAF reaffirms its commitment to providing support, succour and relief to our citizens always and every time," said IAF.
Notably, some cable cars collided on a ropeway at Trikut hills close to Baba Baidyanath Temple on Sunday. The IAF received the request for the rescue of approximately 40 tourists stuck in the Ropeway Service.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor