The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Thursday flew 70 civil administration personnel to the Kedarnath temple to clean the surroundings there after the area was ravaged by the recent flash floods in Uttarakhand.
“A total of 70 personnel have been inducted at Kedarnath for the cleaning of temple surroundings by the IAF choppers,” a Defence Ministry release said. The eighth century shrine at Kedarnath withstood the cloudbursts and floods that swept away its neighbourhood and much of the town last month.
After evacuating all the people stranded in the upper reaches of the hill state, the IAF is in the process of evacuating the locals who want to move out. The IAF has pulled out a majority of its assets deployed in the relief operations in the state but is maintaining 10 choppers there, including the world’s largest Mi-26 transport helicopter, along with Mi-17s and ALH Dhruvs.
In the last 24 hours, the Ministry said the IAF evacuated around 310 and have so far rescued 20,712 people using its helicopter fleet.
Published 04 July 2013, 19:52 IST