IAF to carry out oxygen sorties at MP, Rajasthan, Maharashtra

New Delhi, Apr 25: The Indian Air Force will today carry out the next round sorties to transfer oxygen to Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. This comes in the wake of the nation grappling with an unprecedented surge in the number of COVID-19 cases.

The IAF has already ferried a large number of oxygen containers to filling stations in different parts of the country.

On Saturday, the Air Force picked up from Singapore four cryogenic containers for storage of liquid oxygen, officials said. The containers were airlifted from Singapore by C17 heavy-lift aircraft of the IAF. The aircraft with four cryogenic oxygen containers landed at Panagarh airbase in West Bengal at around 4:30 pm, the officials said.

India is struggling with the second wave of the coronavirus infection and hospitals in several states are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds in view of a rising number of COVID-19 cases.
Since Friday, the IAF has been airlifting empty oxygen tankers and containers to various filling stations across the country to speed up the distribution of the much-needed medical oxygen in treating COVID-19 patients.

The IAF was also transporting essential medicines as well as equipment required by the designated COVID-19 hospitals in various parts of the country.

"The Indian Air Force is taking sorties to reduce the transportation time of Oxygen and other critical supplies. One C-17 has reached Changi airport in Singapore today. These containers of cryogenic oxygen tanks will help boosting the oxygen supply in the country," Defence Minister Rajnath Singh''s office tweeted earlier.