Indian forces evacuate 9-month pregnant woman in flood-hit Lanka amidst intensified rescue ops

Colombo: A nine-month pregnant woman was safely evacuated and provided urgent medical care by India's disaster response force in Sri Lanka, as New Delhi intensified rescue and relief operations across the cyclone-hit island nation, the Indian mission here said on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka has been grappling with widespread flooding, landslides and infrastructure collapse triggered by Cyclone Ditwah, leaving several districts isolated and severely straining the country’s disaster-response capacity.

As of Monday, 390 people have been killed, with 352 missing, in catastrophic floods and landslides caused by extreme weather conditions since November 16.

In a social media post, the Indian High Commission said a nine-month pregnant woman in Puttalam district was safely evacuated and given medical care by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

"Operation Sagar Bandhu continues to stand by those who need it the most," it said.

India launched the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) initiative, Operation Sagar Bandhu, to help Sri Lanka recover from the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah.

In another post, the mission said NDRF teams, working with local authorities, delivered food and essential supplies to nearly 800 people stranded in inaccessible areas of Puttalam on Monday.

The High Commission said Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters air-dropped more than 5.5 tonnes of relief material across affected zones, including over Aranayake from a hover point where landing was not possible.

"The crew also winched up four critically injured survivors from a remote area near Ganthuna and transported them to Rivisanda for urgent medical care," it said.

Search operations for missing persons continued in Badulla, where NDRF teams recovered one deceased individual from beneath more than five feet of debris in a complex effort.

Separately, relief supplies brought to Trincomalee by the Indian Navy ship INS Sukanya on Monday were airlifted by the Sri Lanka Air Force to severely affected communities across the Eastern Province.

A total of 1,373,899 individuals from 382,651 families across 25 districts have been affected by the ongoing adverse weather conditions, according to the Disaster Management Centre (DMC).