Dehradun: On the morning after a tragic helicopter crash in which all 20 people on board, including five Indian Air Force personnel, are feared dead, Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne is in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand and said, " Our rotors will not stop turning. We owe it to those who lost their lives in this rescue op."
The Air Chief landed in Dehradun this morning and then reached Gauchar, the hub of relief and rescue operations, to boost the morale of his men engaged in their largest-ever rescue mission. At Gauchar, the Indian Air Force's helicopters took off on their rescue sorties on schedule this morning.
The bodies of 12 people have been recovered so far from the crash site near Gaurikund, but government sources said there was slim chance of anyone having survived the crash. The five Air Force men on the chopper - Wing Commander Darryl Castelino, two Flight Lieutenants, a Junior Warrant Officer and a Sergeant - have all died, the IAF said. The other 15 people on board were paramilitary personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
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Our rotors will not stop turning: air force chief in Dehradun
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Uttarakhand chopper crash: all 20 on board feared dead, 12 bodies found
Elite Garuda commandos slithered down ropes from helicopters last evening to reach the crash site and scanned the area for survivors and bodies all night. According to reports, the sturdy Russian-built MI-17 V5 chopper - 80 of which were inducted only last year into the IAF - was completely charred. It belonged to a unit from Barrackpore in West Bengal.
Within minutes of the crash last evening, the Air Force said its rescue operations would continue, illustrating the heroism and sacrifice that has suffused its operations in Uttarakhand. Today the Air Chief said, "The NDRF, ITBP and our men have done an outstanding job. I express condolence on behalf of the entire nation. This is a serious loss. But our operations are going to continue."
The Mi-17 chopper was on its way back from Kedarnath, the epicentre of the devastation caused by torrential rains in the hilly state, to Gauchar when it crashed. It had reportedly already made two sorties in the day. The area around Kedarnath is tough, inaccessible terrain and evacuations on foot have been impossible.
The risk under which the Air Force is flying through the treacherous terrain, air-lifting pilgrims and air-dropping commandos and soldiers to temporary camps was on display all of Tuesday. Each time the rain let up, or the cloud cover improved, helicopters would head out.
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