In one of the worst natural disasters in Kerala, at least 123 persons were killed and 128 injured in massive landslides triggered by torrential rains in Wayanad on Tuesday. With hundreds trapped under the debris, sparking fears of mounting fatalities, rescue agencies were racing against time to pull out any survivors.
The officials said the aircrew used their electro-optical and infrared sensors to ensure that the runway was free of any obstruction and there were no inimical forces in the vicinity.
The NDMA member further stated that the health conditions of the rescued workers will be monitored for the next 48 to 72 hours.
Grim and sad scenes from landslide hit Wayanad district.
The bodies of Havildar Rohit Kumar, Havildar Thakur Bahadur Ale and Naik Gautam Rajbanshi were trapped deep within a crevasse and lay buried under thick layers of ice and large volumes of snow for the past nearly nine months.
All armed forces including the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and Indian Coast Guard have made necessary preparation to provide assistance to the local people of Gujarat.
Deployed at 15,632 feet, Captain Shiva Chauhan, 25, highlights the calibre of the Indian Army's women officers.
Modi also mentioned about 'Balaram', a canine who sniffed out ammunition on the route of the Amarnath Yatra, and 'Bhavana' who searched out an IED in 2002 but died later in an explosion triggered by terrorists.
The army and air force have been deployed for rescuing stranded citizens after torrential rains have left residents marooned.
Indian Air Force and the army flew 2,223 sorties, shifted about 11,200 people to safer places and transported and dropped about 1,700 tonnes of relief material.
'Diplomatic and economic responses are first announced and then implemented. A military response is announced only after it is done.'
Army was helping them in relief operation, Pal said, adding that around 1,200 people affected by flood were staying in five camps, including four put up in the city, he said.
The Eastern Command General Officer Commanding-in-Chief also said India is giving shelter to anyone from Myanmar seeking refuge, including common villagers, army or police, in Mizoram and Manipur, but not armed cadres of militant groups of drug traffickers.
'Neither are Baloch insurgents capable of breaking up Pakistan, nor has Pakistan learned any lessons from the 1971 debacle that led to the country's dismemberment.'
"We are making serious attempts to rescue people marooned in flood waters based on inputs we get from various sources, including people," asserted a top Indian Air Force official overseeing the marathon operations by his force amidst allegations by some people that forces had not reached all the affected people.
A girl carries her brother to safety as she wades through a flooded road on the outskirts of Agartala, June 18, 2022.
At least 17,674 people have died and 72,879 people have been injured in Turkey, according to Vice President Fuat Oktay on Thursday.
Three personnel, including two of major-rank and one naib subedar, have been conferred the Kirti Chakra, the ministry said.
The single-engine helicopter was on its way from Khirmu in Arunanchal Pradesh to Yonphula in Bhutan.
Three teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were sent to provide help to the quake-hit region on February 7 following Prime Minister Modi's directive to offer all possible assistance under 'Operation Dost'.
"Today, during a training sortie in Patnitop area, Indian Army's Cheetah helicopter crash-landed in Shiv Garh Dhar area in the district," a Jammu-based defence spokesman said.
Rain-related incidents claimed nine more lives in Gujarat, taking the death toll to 16 in two days, while another 8,500 people were relocated and rescued from flood-affected areas with rains continuing to lash some parts of the state for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday, officials said.
Wing Commander Raveendran and flight steward Sargeant Iyer, though shaken and injured, managed to open the rear door of the aircraft and shouted for Prime Minister Morarji Desai and the passengers in the forward cabin to exit in haste since they suspected that fire would engulf the aircraft.
NSG 'Sky Marshals' travel alone or in pairs on-board Indian airlines aircraft like normal passengers but they have a concealed weapon and some specialised gadgets to combat hijackers and rescue passengers in case such an incident takes place.
Incessant rains unleashed more death and destruction on Monday in parts of north India, with 37 people killed in landslides and other rain-related incidents in the last two days even as the Army and NDRF teams stepped in to intensify the relief and rescue operations.
India cricketer Harbhajan Singh, who was stranded in Joshimath due to incessant rains while on a pilgrimage, was rescued and taken to safety by the Indian Air Force.
In another feat, Lt Jamyang Tsewang, the first commissioned naval officer from Ladakh, also successfully graduated as a qualified helicopter pilot, according to the Indian Navy.
Baljeet Kaur, a 27-year-old leading Indian woman climber, was found alive on Tuesday, a day after she went missing near Camp IV of Mt Annapurna while descending from the summit point, an official of the expedition organiser said.
The Indian Navy's P8I maritime patrol aircraft on Thursday located a Chinese fishing vessel that capsized three days ago in the Indian Ocean, officials said.
President Droupadi Murmu on July 5, 2024 conferred 10 Kirti Chakras, including seven posthumously, to personnel of the Army and paramilitary forces for displaying indomitable courage and extraordinary valour in the line of duty.
The toll in Monday's temple collapse incident increased to 17 with rescue teams recovering one more body on Sunday.
The stage on which the Jammu and Kashmir flood disaster played out is littered with protagonists, most of whom did not receive the attention they deserve, says Ajai Shukla
The defence ministry said 10 helicopters will be for the Indian Air Force and five will be for the Indian Army.
Water levels have started receding in Srinagar and telecommunication has been restored in parts of the city after it faced the worst floods in decades.
While rain intensity reduced on Tuesday compared to a day ago, affecting mainly districts in the Saurashtra region, administration carried out rescue and relief operations on a large scale, shifting thousands of people to shelters.
An army patrol operating at an altitude of approximately 18,000 feet in Southern Siachen Glacier was hit by an avalanche during the early hours of Saturday, Srinagar-based defence spokesperson Col Rajesh Kalia said in a statement.
The Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police were at hand to assist Amarnath yatra pilgrims on Monday, July 4, 2022.
Some 50 people have been rescued so far from cable cars which were left dangling mid-air after a malfunction of the ropeway which saw trolley cars colliding on Sunday 4 pm.
Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag on Wednesday said the forces would continue to work through "day and night" to render relief to the affected people in Kashmir.
Two Arunachal Pradesh youths from the state's Anjaw district have not returned home from August this year when they had set out in search of medicinal plants near the state's border with China.
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