On a short notice, Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Udhampur-based unit ‘Hovering Hawks’ launched two Cheetah helicopters and carried out casualty evacuation from Chanderkot helipad after they got information of a civil bus on move from Badgam to Kanpur fell into the valley near Ramban in central Kashmir.
At 1045 hours on December 24, two heptrs and two set of crew were standby to take off from Udhampur to Chanderkot helipad where the casualties were initially evacuated. On getting a go ahead for one heptr at 1050 hours, Wg Cdr V Mehta as captain with co-pilot Arunima Vidhate got airborne from Udhampur. Meanwhile after ascertaining the requirement, on the call of Wg Cdr V Mehta, second heptr got airborne from Udhampur with SqnLdr SK Prasad as captain and Flt Lt Siddhant Yadav as co-pilot, an IAF spokesperson said.
First heptr landed at Chanderkot Helipad at 1125 hours and picked up three critically injured Jawans of ITBP who were amongst the 09 critically injured travelling in fateful bus.
The other heptr landed at 1225 hours and picked 02 remaining critical Jawans along with medical attendant.
Four casualties were picked up by civil helicopter.
“Due to power station and several microwave towers on eastern side of helipad, heptrs had to carry out one sided approaches and take offs with thorough traffic coordination with civil helicopters. Additionally, the site had limited manoeuvring space” said the mission leader and captain of the lead aircraft Wg Cdr Vishal Mehta.
Both the heptrs continued to Jammu airport, where the ambulance was ready to attend the casualty. The casualties suffered serious injuries which included facial/head injuries, fractured leg and major bruises on arms.
