Mission Accomplished: IAF flew 1677 sorties in Nepal

New Delhi, May 04: The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Thursday called off its relief and rescue operations in Nepal. The IAF mission under Operation Maitri saw a total of 1677 sorties being carried out by various aircraft starting April 25.

Among various platforms that took part the operations were C-130J, C-17, IL-76, AN-32, Mi-17 V5 and Mi-17.

IAF Spokesperson Wg Cdr Rochelle D'Silva told OneIndia a total of 5188 persons and 780 casualties were evacuated during various operations.

"We were there in Nepal within four hours after the quake hit Nepal. Today our last helicopter (Mi17 V5) landed in the evening in Delhi and it has been a great effort by various teams," Wg Cdr Rochelle D'Silva said.

She said the IAF had even carried out HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief) task even in the past, but Nepal was more challenging.

In the last one month, the IAF lifted tones of relief material to various parts of Nepal. They included: water, blankets, tents, field hospitals, stretchers, oxygen regenerators and Air Force communication centre vehicles to name a few.

During the operations, large scale relief and rescue were carried out by Mi-17 V5 and Mi-17 helicopters from detachments at Pokhara and Kathmandu.

Meanwhile, in a related development, Ministry of Defence Spokesperson Sitanshu Kar complimented the efforts of IAF PRO Gp Capt B B Pandey, who multi-tasked over a month highlighting the humane element in Nepal.

OneIndia News