NewzVille Desk
India launched Operation Sagar Bandhu to provide urgent Search & Rescue and Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Relief (HADR) support to Sri Lanka after the devastaion by cyclone Ditawh.
In coordination with the Sri Lankan authorities, the Government of India immediately handed 9.5 tons of emergency rations from two Indian Navy Ships in Colombo; deployed three Indian Air Force aircraft for airlifting another 31.5 tons of relief materials including tents, tarpaulins, blankets, hygiene kits, ready-to-eat food items, medicines and surgical equipment, two BHISHM cubes along with 5 persons medical team for on-site training, and 80 persons special Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to assist in rescue efforts; and despatched another 12 tons of relief supplies on-board Indian Navy Ship Sukanya (at Trincomalee). A total of 53 tons of relief material has been handed over.
Chetak helicopters from INS Vikrant and MI-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force, in coordination with the Sri Lankan Air Force, conducted extensive rescue operations, airlifting stranded people, including pregnant women, infants, and those critically injured.
Rescued persons included nationals of Sri Lanka, India, Germany, Slovenia, United Kingdom, South Africa, Poland, Belarus, Iran, Australia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
NDRF teams have been carrying out search-and-rescue operations in various severely affected and isolated regions of Sri Lanka, assisting flood-hit families and ensuring their immediate safety.
A total of 121 persons have been rescued and assisted in these combined operations, which are continuing.
Evacuation of Indian nationals stranded due to Cyclone Ditwah was also undertaken via three special Indian Air Force flights and three commercial flights, with a total of around 1500 stranded Indians already brought back.
