IAF airlifts injured ITBP soldiers

The Air Force airlifted several Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) jawans who were critically injured when their bus fell into a gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban district, officials said on Tuesday.

The incident had occurred on Monday when the bus was going from Badgam to Kanpur.

The Western Air Command of the IAF sent two Cheetah helicopters from its Udhampur-based unit 'Hovering Hawks' to carry out casualty evacuation.

"On getting a go ahead for one helicopter at 10:50 AM, Wg Cdr V Mehta as captain with co-pilot Arunima Vidhate got airborne from Udhampur. Meanwhile after ascertaining the requirement, on the call of Wg Cdr V Mehta, second helicopter got airborne from Udhampur with Sqn Ldr SK Prasad as captain and Flt Lt Siddhant Yadav as co-pilot," an IAF statement read.

The first helicopter landed at the Chanderkot Helipad at 11:25 AM and evacuated three critically injured ITBP jawans. The other helicopter landed at 12:25 PM and evacuated two critical jawans along with a medical attendant.

"Four casualties were picked up by a civil helicopter," the statement read.