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IAF chopper rescues 2 British schoolgirls

The two girls, Kathaline Allen Martha and Choe Rebecca, who were part of a team of 17 British school children on a trekking expedition to Kinnaur-Keylong heights, suffered from acute high altitude sickness prompting the team leader to send a distress signal for evacuating them to lower altitude.

The IAF bases nearby intercepted the signal sent from a satellite transponder yesterday morning and despatched two Cheetah helicopters to trace the trekkers.

"However, due to bad weather and low clouds the light choppers could not proceed beyond Keylong," an IAF spokesman said.

The IAF then launched the heavier MI-17 helicopter from the Sarsawa base and the pilot Shakul Tyagi after a two-hour search spotted the group, landed at an elevation of 14,000 feet and brought the girls for treatment to Manali, the spokesman said.

PTI

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